Summer Knight
by DarkIrisGypsy
Summary: Natsumi Sarutobi is the granddaughter of the third hokage. Her life is dramatically altered when she was saved by Kakashi Hatake when she was a child. As time passes by, their desires and destinies will soon unravel. REWRITTEN.
1. Prologue

_**Hello there...I'm back.**_

_**I know there's a lot of you out there who want to kill me for not updating and then having to rewrite the entire thing, but I thought it was for the best because I was not happy with my writing so I took the time to revise and now I have a partially new storyline. Same oc, but better story. Again I am very sorry about this, but I hope you like this version too. And if you are new here then welcome and enjoy:)**_

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto  
**_

* * *

_At first, all I could tell myself was that this was only a dream…a nightmare…it was as real as imagination itself. My mother told me that every time I woke up scared after having a bad dream. I would realize one day that for once my mother was wrong._

_It was all too real to me. The blood…the sadness…the lifeless corpses staring at me blankly from all around me – it was death's way of being alive. I could never have dreamt up a nightmare as frightening as this. I couldn't register what was happening around me. I looked around some more and found myself in a blood covered battlefield, with no signs of life anywhere. There was so much blood everywhere that I wouldn't be surprised if I was standing in a sea of blood. I felt the cool grass under my feet as I looked down and confusingly saw my hands in front of my eyes. They were covered in blood but I didn't know whose it was. Then, an image far more frightening than blood appeared right in front of me._

_Out on the dark horizon stood a masked face. Peering out from the mask of darkness were two different eyes, filled with bloodshed and evil. His eyes felt as if they were burning my heart, my mind, and my soul with no mercy…no thought…no regrets, just pure intent to kill._

_I couldn't move…I was too afraid._

_I fear darkness._

_Dark…_

_Cold…_

_Hate…_

…_then nothing._

"Wow, that must have been some terrible nightmare," said a raven haired boy whose friend had just finished describing the nightmare that she had the night before. He was sitting on the front porch of his house, blowing on the cup of tea his mother had brought out for him and his friend. He had his short black hair tied up in a ponytail and he wore a black short sleeved shirt, with light grey shorts; and a kunai knife clinging to his leg. He always had a seemingly emotionless expression on his face and one that matched with his voice.

His friend, who sat right next to him, stood out compared to his plain exterior; despite her young age, she was already considered an extremely beautiful being. She had long, straight chocolate brown hair that reached all the way down to the top of her hip; her round eyes shared the same chocolate hue as her hair that complimented her heart-shaped face. She was wearing a short blue kimono with a floral print that decorated the bottom of her dress and the hem of her long sleeves. The boy found it hard to believe that a creature like her could exist…yet she was sitting right next to him, sharing her most sacred thoughts with him.

"Yeah, but it doesn't matter to me anymore, I don't even know what it means," said the young girl. The boy sat there in silence and in thought, blowing on his tea once more.

"You know Natsumi, it could be a vision of the future," he said.

"But Itachi," Natsumi started, "things like that don't exist."

"I think the Yamanaka clan have almost the exact same abilities."

"That's different; they could go into peoples' minds and see their past memories but not the future."

They continued to sit their drinking their tea, Itachi glancing over at Natsumi to make sure that her face did not look bored or tired, like the last time when all he talked about was his new training course at the academy and within ten minutes she fell asleep on his bed. Itachi chuckled at the memory, remembering her content expression on her face, trying to make sure that it didn't happen again.

"Huh? What's so funny, hey did I spill tea on me again?" she asked embarrassingly checking her dress for any blotched stains.

He chuckled again, holding up his hand in defense. "No, no, nothing at all, just thinking."

"Just thinking, about what? Oh please tell me the suspense is killing me," she tugged on her hair. Itachi laughed even harder, being careful to not spill his tea all over him, somehow still keeping on a near emotionless façade. When he finally calmed down after a while he stood up.

"I'm going out to the woods to train for the exam tomorrow," he said looking down at her, who had a disappointed glare in her eyes.

"Oh, um, ok if that's what you want," she waved her hand at him in approval, "I think that I'll just go now. I don't want to bother with you and your training," she said as she sat her cup of tea down and stood up from the porch.

"Don't go," said Itachi, seeing Natsumi's confused expression snap up at him, "come with me."

"What, really? Oh no, no I don't want to be a bother to you. Besides, I know how much this work means to you so I really don't mind -,"

"Please do. I was actually thinking that we could play after I train, since I don't have a lot to do."

"Oh, well ok," she reluctantly replied. Itachi nodded and he walked off, with a heavenly being trailing behind him.

* * *

At the center of the woods, the young boy was kneeling down with one hand resting on the ground and the other armed with a kunai. He was breathing slowly, trying to listen to the surrounding noises around him. One of the main standards of being a shinobi was to never let your guard down, even if you're not in the presence of danger.

He did not fear death.

He did not feel emotion.

No fear, pain, or love.

A living lie.

"Kyaaaaaa!" shouted a small girl coming from behind and charging towards him. He quickly, without a moment to waste, turned around, grabbed her by the wrist, and they both tumbled together on the ground with her on top of him.

Itachi sighed in frustration. "Natsumi, you can't make so much noise if the point of the attack is to surprise the enemy."

Natsumi gave a small pout and blew a lock of hair out of her face. "Well I'm sorry," said Natsumi, "I'm not like you Itachi. I can't remember all, like one hundred rules and over three hundred super cool magic jutsu you can do. I still don't understand how you can take it all!"

"Practice and talent, that's all you need."

Natsumi stuck out her tongue and rolled off to the side still holding on to his hand. She sighed as she looked up through the canopy of the trees. The patches of sunlight shining through and brightening her face. Itachi turned to see their hands still intertwined and happy to see that she didn't want to let go by the tightening of her grip. She turned to face him and they both locked eyes at that moment. Itachi could not stop looking into those innocent round eyes, as if they were pulling him into a different reality, allowing him to escape from the cruel and deceptive lie that he was living in, but could never tell anyone, not even her. His heart jolted a little bit when she reached out her small fingers to touch the side of his face, brushing a couple of loose strands out of the way.

"Natsumi," whispered Itachi, "Will you always be my friend?"

Natsumi furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. "Of course I will be."

"Even if I did something bad?"

Natsumi retracted her hand. "Something bad, but you could never –,"

"Would you still be my friend if I did?"

"Yes…always, Itachi," she whispered as she got closer to his face, feeling his breath against her cheek.

"Itachi, what's wrong?" she asked with a worried expression in her eyes. Itachi hated it when she had that look in her eyes; it meant that she wasn't happy. There was an uncomfortable silence that filled the gap that resided between their faces, with Itachi, not knowing how to respond to her. All he wanted was to tell her the truth, what he really felt about himself, the village, his family, and about…her. He hated living inside the lie when it was only inches away for those words to fill the void between them. If anyone found out, especially her, he could just end his life right then and there. It was like a spreading fire that could never be put out, burning all emotion and resolve within him. It could nearly destroy him just feeling that pain.

"Natsumi…you know that I would never let anything bad happen to you, right?" he asked tenderly.

She gave a small but sad smile. "I know Itachi. You're too good to do anything like that."

"How do you know that?"

She shrugged. "I just do."

Itachi sighed. "Natsumi, I – "

Itachi didn't finish his sentence when he felt a strange feeling in the core of his stomach. He knew the feeling, and he knew what it was every time. He turned and stood up leaving Natsumi laying on the floor. He scanned his eyes around as Natsumi looked at him curiously and trying to see what he was trying to see.

"Itachi, what's wrong?"

He didn't answer back. _I could've sworn that… _he thought. His hands relaxed and his body straightened. "It's nothing, Natsumi. Come on, I think we need to go back. It's almost dark and your family will miss you."

Natsumi simply nodded, stood up, and the two children started to walk back home, leaving the essence of a childhood memory behind.

* * *

"Ah Itachi, I'm glad that you're here just in time," a man called out to him as Itachi and Natsumi approached his house. Itachi's father was with another Uchiha who, by the way he's dressed, is from the ANBU black ops.

"Itachi," Fugaku continued, "I know you've just returned but I'm afraid that the hokage requires your presence immediately." Itachi and Natsumi looked at each other confusingly.

"Why father, is something wrong?"

"The hokage didn't give much details but he said that we're all to gather at the hokage's building."

Itachi gave a skeptical glare to him. "Father, are we in danger?"

"Well, I –" Fugaku was caught off by the sight of the little girl that was behind his son, with a near worried expression on her face. "Actually, we'll find out at the hokage's meeting. I don't think it's a wise idea to be talking about the village like this in front of _her_, let alone her grandfather," Fugaku whispered to Itachi. He nodded and they both turned to Natsumi.

"Natsumi," said Fugaku, "Why don't you go home now. I think it would be better if you got home before dark. You can come and see Itachi tomorrow."

"Oh…um…ok," replied Natsumi and, with one last lingering look at Itachi, she turned around and started home. As she started to run back home, she couldn't help but wonder why she hadn't given Itachi a hug before she left. It probably would have been the logical thing to do because they both sounded serious, and with Itachi's duties as a ninja, she was sad to know that any moment may be his last. She tried to keep those types of thoughts out of her head, trying to focus on getting home. Besides, his father said she could see him tomorrow, so that would mean that he would be in no danger, right?

She mentally hit herself to not think about that right now and continued home.

* * *

She looked out to the horizon, as the lost drop of sunlight disappeared from the bottom of the sky, leaving only the reddish-orange glow cascaded across the night sky. Natsumi was walking on the sidewalk right by the lake, that was glowing as the moon started to shine. This was one of her favorite places to be at any time of the day or night. It was so calm and peaceful, away from most of the busy streets of Konoha. It was also the place where her mother used to take her when she was alive. Even now Natsumi still couldn't understand why out of all times she had to die on that day. She wished that she could've stayed with her until she was older, when she got married, and then give her the blessing of a grandchild. Then she would have died in her sleep, warm and calm, away from the pain and violence that she had to endure when she was a ninja. No, she had to die at the hands of that man. A monster. Why did he have to destroy someone so beautiful and kind? Why did it –

Her thoughts were cut off when she felt the earth rumble beneath her, almost losing her balance. She looked around confusingly trying to find the source until she laid her eyes beyond the trees, where a huge cloud of smoke rose from the village. She gasped in horror and started running through the trees, more eager to get back home safely.

The leaves and branches were all a blur to Natsumi as she ran for what seemed to be her life. All she wanted to do was get home, back to her brother, her uncle, and her grandfather…but that glimmer of hope faded when she saw the devil afterglow of fire through the trees. She arrived next to a building where across the street there was smoke and fire coming from some houses. She saw this vaguely illusion before, she didn't know what it was, but she knew what it meant… they were under attack. Another explosion had her running again across the courtyards of the village. She didn't think of anything else, all she wanted was to run and get away as far as she can.

All around her she could here women and children were crying for help…a savior. Someone to help them escape from the slaughter being caused by an invisible force. She then saw indistinct blurs passing by her, but she knew that anyone that fast must have been a ninja. She tried to stay focus, looking for her home. Then she realized, that from her surroundings…she was nowhere near home.

Instead she was surrounded by shadows of trees. There was not one speck of light anywhere. _Where am I?_ she thought to herself. She could smell the smoke and the burning ember, but she didn't see it. Her heartbeat quickened and her breath became shallow. She just wanted to go home. She wanted to see her family again, to make sure that they're safe and they didn't burst into flames. The thought made her cry, putting her hands up to cover her eyes trying to block out her most frightening visions out of her mind. She was so scared…weak…cold…nothing.

"Aww…did someone get lost?" said a mysterious voice from the darkness.

Natsumi looked up and saw a masked ninja wearing an entirely black attire with a familiar logo on the headband around his forehead. The Village hidden in the Clouds.

"It looks more like she lost her mommy or something," said a second voice. She turned around to see another ninja just like the first one,, only this one had piercing green, slanted eyes unlike the first one who had pitch black irises that were burning her sight.

"Wh-What are y-you doing?" Natsumi stammered, now deathly afraid for her life, their evil voices sending shivers down her spine.

"It's alright sweetheart," the first man assured her, "we just want to help you."

"I don't believe you."

"Oh, testy aren't we," said another voice from her left side. She looked and sure enough there was a red eyed man staring at her. She didn't know what to do. She was trapped…she was most surely dead.

"Please just leave me alone."

"I'm rather shocked," said the second cloud ninja, "for a genin like you to not fight back, I find that rather pathetic."

Natsumi looked up confused. "Wh-What? You think…I'm not –"

"Keep your mouth shut," said the first one, "and maybe we might not hurt you at all."

"Please –"

"He said shut your mouth!" the third one came up from behind her and grabbed her long hair, making her look up at the night sky. She let out a high pitched squeal of pain. Tears were stinging her cheeks. She wanted to cry out for help, but the words did not come out.

"What should we do with her?'' the third man asked.

"Check to see if she has any weapons on her, then tie her up so she doesn't do any hand signals."

The second man stepped forward and he slowly patted down her sides, making her skin tingle and burn with each touch. He then moved downward until his fingertips slightly went under her dress…that is when she reacted.

She hastily brought her knee up, and it connected with his groin sending him backwards, feeling jolts of pain all over his body. He looked up, this time with a killing intent in his eyes. He regained his balance, charged at her, and violently slapped her across her face. Her cheek burned with fear and pain. She didn't feel the tears fall down her face anymore. In an instant, they tied her hands and her ankles together, surprised to see no more resistance from her, and laid her down on the wet earth.

"Now what," Natsumi couldn't tell who was talking anymore – her mind was fuzzy and her eyes were heavy, tempting her to fade away.

"I think that we should just kill her, spare us the time."

"No, it's best to get any information out of her that she might now about the hokage, then we can do whatever we want with her."

"Hmm… very well then. We might as well start this the easy way then."

That man then pulled out an unusually longer kunai than the rest, with tainted blood on the blade and mad his way towards her. He knelt down beside her, and began to speak.

"Now look girl, we don't want to do anything too…messy. However, if you don't give us what we want, we just might have to do that. We're fine either way." There was a sudden pause between them, leaving Natsumi in a state of silent panic.

"Now," he said as he put the blade at the base of her throat, "what can you tell us about your leader…hmm?"

Natsumi said nothing. The man glared down at her.

"Very well." The man moved the blade down to the hem of her kimono, grabbed the edge tightly as he began to slice the dress to ribbons. She whimpered to the point when she couldn't hear her voice anymore. She was so confused and hurt; she didn't know what was going to happen next. Those muffled voices and violent touches were going to be the last things she will ever see, feel, hear, or even smell in the end. She prepared for what was coming.

After shredding off a long strip of fabric from the bottom of her dress, the ninja heard two blunt thumps behind him. He turned around and saw the two other ninja on the ground, lifeless, with a kunai knife sticking in one's neck and the other in the back. The man stood up, leaving the girl alone on the floor, now looking terrified and prepared to kill.

Natsumi tried to keep her eyes pried open; searching for what was out there, what was preventing her from meeting her ultimate end. She saw the man stand up in the darkness, waiting for the right moment to pounce on his invisible prey.

The man frantically looked around with the kunai in his hand, his heart skipping a couple beats every so often. "Come out you coward! You think I'm afraid? You think I'm af –"

Natsumi closed her eyes as she could feel a shower of blood splatter all over her face and on her clothes. When she opened her eyes, she saw pale white, dead eyes staring at her, burning and begging for life. She whimpered and felt more tears glide down her tainted cheeks, trying to close them from the horrific sight but they were unwilling to. Suddenly, a foot kicked the dead body away from her and the mysterious figure knelt down and turned her on her back so that she could see who the man was.

Natsumi already could tell that the man was an ANBU black ops member, with the strange animal mask on and the symbol tattooed on his left shoulder. The only physical feature she could identify was his spiky silver hair that was styled unusually. The man's soft hands cupped both sides of her face so that she was enveloped in warmth and wiping away her tears.

"Don't look at him," he demanded, "You're safe now, those men will never hurt you again." She heard a certain tone of anger in his voice, one that he was trying to fight back with all his might.

"Are you hurt?" he asked. Natsumi tried to open her mouth, but nothing came out. Instead she could feel her blood ceasing to move and her heart propelling to go faster. She suddenly felt the need to breath, but she couldn't. Her struggling breaths became even shallower the more she tried, and then she felt as if she couldn't breathe at all. She could tell by now, that her lips were turning blue.

If only she could tell how horrified his eyes were under that mask. _She's going into shock._

"No…no…no," he pleaded, "no…stay with me now." He shook her head gently, hoping to get a response out of her. He then gently hooked one of his arms under her knees and another around her back and lifted her in the air, her body looking like a lifeless doll.

"Hang in there," he demanded again. He then took off into the trees, leaping as fast as he can towards the village. "Just hold on for a little bit longer, just hold on!"

She could no longer hear his voice…and then she succumbed to darkness.

* * *

Natsumi's eyes were finally being set free from their painful restraints, as they opened and the light overcame the darkness.

She slowly shifted her eyes wherever her periphery could take her and they confirmed that she was in a hospital room. It was night time outside, which made the lights in the room illuminate it so brightly. She examined the plastered ceilings, the white walls, and her white hospital gown. She was covered by the warm layers of the sheets as she took in a deep breath, enjoying the softness of the cushion beneath her, rather than an earthy carpet.

That is when she remembered the events of that night. The darkness…the cloud ninja…and that man…the savior. She then heard steady breathing and she turned to her side and saw the face of a loving man, dressed in his red and white attire and his hat draping over his face, surrounded by cloth.

"Natsumi," said her grandfather's tenderly voice, "I'm so glad that you're finally awake."

"Grandpa!" she exclaimed pushing herself off the bed in a rush, that she started to feel dizzy again, clutching the sides of her head.

The third hokage chuckled a little bit. "Careful Natsumi, you don't want to hurt yourself more than you already are."

Natsumi then realized that when she touched her head, she could feel the bandages wrapped all the way around her head.

"You hit your head pretty hard when you were…attacked," the third hokage uneasily paused, while Natsumi could sense a feeling of guilt in his eyes. "Those cloud ninja were sent here to probably kill me. If they had found out that you were my granddaughter, then I don't know what –" the third hokage didn't finish his sentence, his voice becoming shaky.

"The important thing now is that you're safe. It's a good thing that Kakashi showed up when he did."

_Kakashi? _Natsumi thought to herself. _So that's his name. "Scarecrow," that's kind of a unique name for a person._

"Natsumi, I – " he was cut off when the hospital door slid open.

Natsumi did not recognize him at first, yet she could already tell that this was the man that saved her. Natsumi tried to examine the figure, trying to keep her exhausted eyes wide open in order to see. Now that it wasn't dark, she had a clearer vision of what he looked like, and she was happy about that. He was tall, had a muscular toned body, with the identifiable spiky silver hair. The only things that were strange was that his headband covered his left eye and there was a mask that covered up nearly half of his face, leaving only his right eye visible. Despite all this, Natsumi could not believe how handsome he was…but there was something different hiding behind his face. Natsumi felt as if he was…alone.

"Oh…uh…forgive me lord hokage. I didn't realize that you were here," Kakashi apologized and bowed in a form fo respect and turned to leave.

"Not at all Kakashi," the third hokage called him back, "I wanted to speak with you anyways."

"Yes, sir."

The third hokage looked at Natsumi. "Oh, I just realized that you two have never been formally introduced."

"Kakashi," he started, "this is my granddaughter, Natsumi Sarutobi. Natsumi, this is Kakashi Hatake…I think you already know who he is."

Natsumi gave Kakashi a warm smile as he smiled under his mask.

"It's very nice to meet you," he replied, making Natsumi blush, "I'm glad to hear that you're not hurt."

The third hokage nodded. "Well, I must be going now. You need plenty of rest Natsumi if you want to get out of this hospital in one piece," he jokingly winked at her, making her giggle and getting herself back under the covers.

"Kakashi, may I have a word with you," asked the third hokage.

"Of course," Kakashi nodded and as he followed him to the door, he took one last look at Natsumi, who was smiling at him so beautifully, and he stepped out into the hallway.

"Kakashi, I just wanted to thank you for saving my granddaughter's life. It means a lot to me and to Asuma as well," said the third hokage.

Kakashi nodded in agreement. "I'm just happy that she's safe now."

"Hm…you know Kakashi by now, that this was no random act of violence against the Leaf Village. Those cloud ninja were specifically sent here to assassinate me. If they had found out that Natsumi was my granddaughter, I could only imagine the worst that could've happened to her." The third hokage had a sad tone in his voice, making Kakashi frown a little bit.

"I understand, sir."

"Yes…well, I just thought I might share that with you. I value Natsumi's safety with my life."

"I know, sir. You don't have to explain it to me. I can't see how no one can value a girl like her. She's very brave."

The third hokage just stood there. "I must be going now. I have a lot of work to do, and so many damage to reapir." He started to walk away when Kakashi called out to him.

"Lord hokage," he said as he turned around, "with your permission, may I say goodnight to Natsumi?"

He gave a small and sincere smile. "Of course…I think she'll like that." And with that he walked off. Kakashi stood there for a few moments until he opened the door to Natsumi's room quietly, in case she fell asleep, but was relieved when he saw her sitting upright and looking at him with loving eyes. He closed the door behind him and sat on the side of her bed, keeping his eyes on her.

"You came back?" she asked him curiously.

"Of course, I wanted to say goodnight to you before I leave."

She blushed at his reason. "You know, I could already tell it was you when you came in."

"Oh really?"

"Yeah, I don't know why…maybe the hair?"

Kakashi laughed at this, making Natsumi giggle as well.

They just sat there staring at each other for they don't know how long, just smiling at each other. Natsumi couldn't help it, it's just that he was so different from everyone else he met…even Itachi. She liked it that they were able to share their thoughts with one another, without hesitation. She finally broke the silence by clasping his hand with her two small hands and holding it caringly.

"Thank you, for saving my life. Even though you didn't have to," Kakashi looked at her confusingly, yet with worry.

"Why would you –"

"I was so weak back there," tears started to form in her eyes, "I was so pathetic, not being able to fight them off. I –" she started sobbing a little bit.

Kakashi shook his head assuringly as he took his hands and placed them on the sides of her face, wiping the tears away and making sure she was looking at him.

"Listen to me," he spoke, "You're not weak, nor will you ever will be. You were very brave back then. No matter what anyone else says, you are the bravest person I know, and I am so happy that I saved your life." Natsumi's sobs started to disappear when he said those words to her. She then formed a sad smile as he took his hands away from her face and started to tuck her in under the sheets, getting the notion from her ghostly eyes that she was tired. Once she was settled in she yawned and closed her eyes for a much needed sleep.

Kakashi smiled. "Goodnight Natsumi."

He then walked to the window preparing to leap off of it when he heard a soft voice.

"Kakashi," said Natsumi's dreary voice. He turned around to see her nearly half asleep.

"Can I see you again, please?"

All he could do was smile at her. It was so easy to. "I'll be here every day until you leave."

Natsumi sighed and closed her eyes once more. "Goodnight Kakashi." And then he was gone.


	2. Reunion

**Well, finally I got chapter one rewritten. Again I apologize for the incredibly long wait, a lot of stuff has been happening and I had a major, major writer's block so I felt like I had to collect all my thoughts together and start the story over from scratch. Luckily I already started on chapter two, so it won't be long until it is uploaded; and so no one is lost, this story is suppose to fit in the Naruto storyline, with my own little tweaks of course. So here is chapter one, enjoy and review:)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.  
**

* * *

_8 years later...  
_

Kakashi tried to remember the time when he started hating the mornings. Was it until after Obito died? Highly likely, since he refused to get out of bed after that event for quite a while. Or maybe the blinding sun that always shined in his face, just as it did now when he first opened his eyes.

He slowly sat himself up in bed, clumsily reached over to his bedside table to turn off the buzzing alarm, and saw the time.

_7:15 a.m. Why in the world did I wake up even this early?_

He looked at the calendar on the wall and saw the marked date of the month. _Right, I'm getting my new team today. _He finally pushed his bed sheets off and stood up. He then went to get dressed, putting on his mask and his jonin uniform, and went out the door, deciding to skip breakfast. _Here goes the new…and possibly hopeful, day._

He arrived at the hokage's building where, as he entered, many of the jonin ninja were waiting around in the lobby to find out their new teams. Kakashi looked around to see some hopeful faces and some anxious, probably because they didn't want their team to be the class clowns of the bunch, or the less worthy…just like his past students who failed to even grasp the meaning of teamwork. This team probably won't be any different.

Kakashi continued to make his way through the crowd and up the stairs, as he that thought reminded more and more about that day. The last time he put himself and the mission before anything else. However, the thing he regretted most since that day was that he couldn't keep his promise to Obito, that he couldn't protect Rin; And that memorial stone was always there to remind him of the mistakes he's made. His thoughts were cut out of his mind when a familiar figure called to him.

"Kakashi," called an elderly voice.

Kakashi looked up and was greeted by the noble face of the third hokage.

"Lord hokage," he greeted back as he bowed to him.

"Kakashi, I know you're on your way to the meeting hall, but may I have a word with you in my office?"

"Of course." The third hokage led kakashi to his office, where he went to stand behind his desk, but did not sit down.

"What is it that you wanted to speak to me about, sir?" Kakashi asked him.

"Kakashi, I have never done this before, but in this case I thought it might be best for you."

Kakashi furrowed his brow in slight confusion. "Yes, my lord?"

"Well, I called you here so that I can give you the names of your new students myself."

"Hmm…why?"

"Because… I didn't want to cause a disturbance with the other jonin at the meeting."

"Lord hokage, I'm don't quite understand why – "

"It's because," Kakashi was cut off, "the students you are receiving today were chosen specifically for you."

Kakashi's eyes slightly widened at his reason, trying to prepare for what other surprises he had left. Then, the third hokage opened up one of his desk drawers and pulled out a folder which made a slapping noise as it was dropped on top of the desk.

"These are the profiles of the new students that you are going to be assigned to. Please, have a look for yourself."

Kakashi did as he was told, picked up the folder and opened it to read the contents inside.

Kakashi's heart nearly skipped a beat. "This is –"

"Now you see why it was so important to give you the names of your new students in private."

"Lord hokage, forgive me sir, but I don't think I can accept these students."

The third hokage raised an eyebrow. "Hmm…I see, they bring up to many painful memories for you?"

Kakashi didn't look up at him, all he could do was stare at the names that were burning a hole into his mind. Kakashi didn't understand, out of all the people why did he have to be the one to train and guide these students? It's like fate is torturing him…again.

"Kakashi, I hope you don't think poorly of this, but the fact is that you are the only one in the entire village who has the ability to train and help these students walk down the path of a ninja. With your sharingan and your ties to the fourth hokage, it is clear in my eyes that you are the one destined to guide these young ninja down the right road."

Kakashi closed the folder and sighed in frustration. "Lord hokage, please I –" he stopped when a small figure bursted through the door behind him and charged towards the elderly man. Kakashi, knowing who it was, calmly took one step towards the left, dodging the incoming little obstacle.

"I've got you now old man!" shouted the young boy with a pair of goggles on his head and a long blue scarf around his neck. He was almost there when he stepped on his scarf causing him to trip face first in front of his desk. The third hokage grumbled in annoyance.

"Konohamaru!" the old man shouted, "how many times have I told you not to interrupt me while I'm in my office?"

"Hey, it wasn't me," said Konohamaru, "it was Natsumi's idea!"

Kakashi made an inaudible gasp that he hoped no one caught. His heart always skipped a beat when he heard or spoke of that name. It's been nearly five years since he has ever spoken to her, and every time someone mentioned her name he couldn't take it and he would just walk off.

_She should be about 18 years old now. She's all grown up._

"Don't you try to bring your sister into this!"

"It's the truth, I swear!"

"Konohamaru, I've had eno –"

"Konohamaru!" a female voice shouted from the hallway, then opening the door revealing a young woman. "I thought I told you not to –" her gaze went to Kakashi and their eyes locked with each other. Both of their hearts stopped.

Kakashi couldn't believe that she was standing right in front of her after all this time. She definitely grew up. She still retained that long, straight brown hair that gracefully swayed down to her hips. Her body, which was perfectly curved, yet slender, was clad with black stockings that went just above her knees and was complimented with black flat shoes. She was doned in a beautiful magenta kimono that went to her mid-thigh. It was tied elegantly with a black sash in the back in a bow and had a sequined flower clip attached to it. In her hair was a light blue butterfly clip, decorated with small jewels that held one side of her hair behind her left ear. Her face has definitely matured. Her heart shaped face had a collection of perfectly thinned and arched eyebrows above her beautiful round eyes that were the same color as her hair. Her skin was like snow white with her nearly full lips standing out from the white surface.

Kakashi almost lost his mind being entranced by her, this was no longer a little girl, this was a grown, beautiful young woman.

Natsumi stared at him nearly wide eyed, shocked at seeing his face once again. For a moment she thought it had been decades since she's seen him, but now realized that it was only a mere five years. She noticed that he was wearing a jounin uniform, remembering that the last time she saw him, he was at the top of the ANBU black ops list. He sure has changed she thought, however, he still had retained that calm and aloof expression that was written all over his body. Nonetheless, he was still everything she had ever thought of him and even more. She hadn't forgotten how much she…

Their shocked gaze and silence was broken with an elderly voice.

"Natsumi, how many times have I told you to make sure that your brother does not go into any more trouble?" said her grandfather in a strict voice. Natsumi just stood there, still recovering from the shock and just looked at him doe eyed with her lips parted slightly.

"Well, anything?"

All she could do was close her eyes and bow to her grandfather. "I'm very sorry grandfather for disturbing you," she then bowed towards Kakashi, "and to you as well Hatake-sama."

He widened his eyes a little bit more while still retaining his aloof expression, towards how formal she was acting in his presence.

"Oh yes, it seems you two have remembered each other," started the Third Hokage, " it has been quite a while since you two have seen each other, correct?"

"Yes, it's been what, five years?" said Kakashi as he looked at Natsumi.

"I believe so, Hatake-sama," Natsumi said looking down bashfully.

"Please Natsumi, call me Kakashi."

She looked back up at him with a cold glare as she said, "Come on Konohamaru, let's go."

She reached out for his hand as he grumbled when he finally took it. He looked back to his grandfather and shouted, "Don't think this is over yet old man, I will get you eventually!" Natsumi closed the door on his face, leaving the Third Hokage and a stunned Kakashi in the room alone once again.

* * *

Natsumi could not get her mind over what happened in her gandfather's office as she was walking down the village streets later in the evening. The image of Kakashi's face kept popping in her mind, like it was the only thing left in the world to think about. She could have thought about monkeys or ramen, but yet again, life can be cruel.

She couldn't get the slightly angered feeling out from the pit of her stomach. Although she was also kind of glad to see him – she was even feeling ecstatic to see him after all this time – she was still angry at the fact that after one week he didn't show up even once, and in the following weeks it was like that, and then it became months which then spanned out into five years. He didn't even explain to her as to why he didn't want to see her.

She desperately clanged on to that question for years now, although thinking about it would only make the lonely feeling worse.

Surely he must have known how lonely she had felt for all these years with him gone. Did any of their times together mean anything to him at all?

Because it meant everything to her.

Every moment that they spent together was treasured by her each second of the day. Kakashi was her life; his cool and aloof attitude always made her laugh every time they were together; she would, once in a while, try to jokingly take off his mask and in retaliation he would tickle her; and whenever Kakashi was around her, he would put away his favorite book, _Make-out Paradise, _in his pocket or even just leave it at home all together, as if the book never existed at all. He sometimes did the silliest and smallest things for her, as long as they made her happy. It was these things that made her feel wonderful whenever she was beside him.

Then, he made that feeling go away, and she never knew why; but she knew this for sure – that she was never going to forgive him for that…ever.

Even though every ounce of her heart wants to seek out the truth, she knows that it will never do her life any good because Kakashi would still never want to be with her again.

But just thinking about that made her soul ache.

She tried to clear her mind of those thoughts as she continued down the lively nighttime streets of the village. She looked around the busy market and saw an abundance of stores that she could get her mind off of Kakashi. She then spotted a nice little antique store and quickly walked to the outside stand.

She moved passed a couple of customers and saw that the stand was filled with jewelry, teapots, and other very old treasures. One item that caught her attention was a thin, medium length wooden box at the bottom of the stand. She knelt down, gently picked up the package, and carefully opened it. Once she did, she silently gasped at the contents. Inside, there was a beautiful, crystallized glass flower in the form of a lily. It was shimmering in the brilliance of the moonlight and was very delicate to look at even. She was so transfixed on the crystal flower that she did not notice the presence of a masked man behind her.

"I remember how much you loved lilies," the said man spoke to her. Surprised, she stood up still holding the box, and turned around shocked to see the one thing that she wanted to remove from her mind.

"Hmm… let's see now what did it stand for…innocence, beauty…ah, _virginity_," he blushed when he said that word and even winked at her with that aloof exterior upon his face. She, however, did not take this joke lightly and, while gently, closed the box, put it back on the stand, and frustratingly walked away from him.

_How dare he act so casual and mocking towards me after all this time; and all the while I'm here angry and confused, a feeling that I desperately want to rid of, _she thought as she continued to walk down the lantern lit street. She turned her head around to see if he was gone when she walked into a hard surface making her lose her balance and fall back a bit.

She looked up to see Kakashi who, unlike before, retained his cool expression yet he looked serious right at that moment. She looked at him, shocked at how fast he got in front of her, as in the blink of an eye.

"I didn't mean it like that, Natsumi," he said. Her name rolled out of his mouth affectionately, one of the things she adored about him.

She gave him a skeptical look as he studied her face. "Oh come on Natsumi you know I'm not like that, I was just teasing with you."

"Hmm…try to tell yourself that while you read that filthy book of yours," she retorted back at him in a teasing tone.

He simply shrugged, "You know I don't like reading those books when I'm with you." Natsumi snorted and rolled her eyes when she remembered that fact. "It's because I value you too much."

Her face softened and her heart nearly skipped a beat. Never before had she dreamed of him saying something like that to her. Though, it could only mean in a friendly manner, of course, she couldn't get ahead of herself in this situation. There were too many conflicted emotions arising from within her soul to get to that type of conclusion.

She sighed in defeat and looked back up at him sincerely. She decided to break the silence as she asked, "Why are you here?"

He rubbed the back of his head in that calm attitude of his as he spoke. "Well I wanted to apologize for what happened in your grandfather's office, I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable."

He saw her eyes soften, returning the innocent beauty that reflected in her eyes once again. She sighed, "It's alright really, I mean…I was just – "

"Surprised," Kakashi finished for her, "yeah I think it was pretty clear that we both were."

They both chuckled as he looked at her smile_. There she is_, he though happily to himself

Natsumi almost broke out into complete laughter but quickly covered her mouth to maintain her composure. As soon she regained her sanity, she looked at him and saw that he was lost on a thought, because he almost seemed swept away by something.

"What is it?" she asked curiously, tipping her head to the side.

"Huh? Oh, nothing," he snapped his train of thought, "I just thought that maybe I can treat you to dinner, you know, to make up for what happened today."

Natsumi looked at him surprised. "What, oh no, you really don't have to do that."

"Why not, it'll be on me."

"No, really, I – "

"What?"

"It didn't really mean anything to me."

"Well, _obviously _it did."

"I – "

"Look, instead of going back and forth like a game of catch like this, why don't you have dinner with me, hmm?"

Natsumi swayed her head side to side, weighing the options.

"Oh and just for the record, I wasn't going to take no for an answer."

Natsumi was going to say something in retaliation but took it back, narrowing her eyes at him and shaking her head. "You're still the same since the last time I saw you: lethargic, difficult, and even more so, stubborn. What are you?"

Kakashi took his gaze from space to her eyes. "Hmm, I'm sorry did you say something?"

Natsumi gasped at his carefree attitude, she could not find her words to come out of her mouth. They were acting as if they have just seen each other yesterday, just like before. Natsumi sarcastically put her hands on her hips and glared at him.

"Hey, some things never change," said Kakashi, shrugging his shoulders. Natsumi smirked at him, and finally went to his side, clinging on to his arm, and slightly leaned her head against his shoulder. Kakashi's eyes widened a little by the sudden contact, bringing back so many memories. _I remember how warm she was._

"To be honest, I hope they never change," she said, smiling against him. Kakashi was content again as he lead her down the street.

"So, where exactly are we going?" she asked.

"Oh, you like ramen right?"

* * *

Kakashi took Natsumi to a nice, little ramen shop just a couple blocks away from where they met. They sat down at a table that overlooked the busy street as the waitress came by to take their order.

"I think I'll have the medium pork miso ramen, with extra tofu please," said Natsumi.

The waitress wrote down her order and turned to Kakashi. "And for you sir?"

Kakashi looked up to her, "Oh, nothing for me thanks just some hot green tea for the lady here."

Natsumi raised an eyebrow at him as the waitress left to get their orders. "You're not eating anything?"

"Ummmm…no, is there a problem with that?" he asked her in a cool manner.

"Well, you did just ask me if we could have dinner together. I'm thinking the definition of that term being that two people are, well, eating together."

"Hmm, interesting theory."

Natsumi narrowed her eyes at him. "What, no witty remark, not even a cool comeback or something like that?"

"Oh no, I've had my fun for the night." She jokingly glared at him as the waitress came back with a teapot and a cup full of green tea. She picked up the cup while blowing on it and carefully sipped the hot tea. She tried to keep her eyes down to avoid contact with Kakashi, hoping that he did not catch this action. Every word that they had exchanged tonight were all just snappy remarks and teasing, she didn't want to escalate it further, especially with him because she knows that she will lose.

Kakashi looked back at Natsumi and a saddened expression came upon his face when he saw Natsumi's defeated face look towards the ground, trying to avoid him. He should realize that she wasn't the little, naïve girl that he met eight years ago; she was eighteen, a grown young woman. One of the things he realized as she was growing up was that she wanted to become like her mother, who always took charge of the family – sweet natured and kind – the typical role model for a daughter. Just thinking about this brought something to mind.

"Do you remember the time," he started, "when you visited me on my, what was it, my twentieth birthday?"

Natsumi's eyes shot back up at him when she too recalled that day. She simply nodded, "Yes."

"Well, you gave me something that I would never forget. You said that it belonged to your mother and you thought that I deserved it more than you did. It was a necklace, more specifically a protective charm to keep someone away from harm or evil. You said that your father gave it to your mother when they fell in love. Do you remember that?"

She was shocked by his clear memory of that day, and even more so, the story that she told him about it. She thought that it meant nothing to him. Still trying to comprehend how he remembered that day, she nodded her head once again with her lips gaped open, and whispered, "Yes."

Kakashi then reached under the neckline of his blue shirt and pulled out the content underneath, holding it out for her to see. When Natsumi caught a shimmer of it under the light, she gasped when she realized what it was. It was a long, silver chain and attached to it was a small, slender carved stone in the shape of a cylinder, with a dragon etched into the smooth surface. Along with the stone charm, there was a bell the size of a pea a tiny metal accessory in the form of a crow's feather.

"Oh my god," she gasped and scooted closer on the bench towards him and gently picked the charm out of his hands to observe it even further. She honestly thought that he tossed it away somewhere; never before had she imagined that he actually…

The waitress parted them with the hot bowl of ramen and Natsumi retreated from her thoughts and scooted back to her seat. She shoved the bowl in front of her as she started nibbling on the soft tofu bits. She looked at Kakashi, who kept the necklace out lying on his vest rather than tucking it back in.

"I didn't know you kept it all this time," said Natsumi.

"Why is that surprising, you actually thought I threw it away?" Kakashi asked in a confused tone.

"Well…I mean…it wasn't anything special, really, I – "

He cut her off, "Of course it was special. Ever since the day you gave it to me, I knew that I was going to come back from a mission safely, and it was because of you." Natsumi just kept her head down. "Every time I was in the face of danger, I always had to remember what was around my neck, and that thought alone was enough to keep on living, like you were right beside me making sure that – "

"Stop," she cut him off, "please just stop."

His expression grew serious. "What?"

"Stop talking as if you cared about me enough to trust me."

"What do you mean? Wait – you think I don't care about you?"

"How could I not think that? I mean you left me behind, and you didn't even care enough to tell me why. All you had to do was tell me that much."

"If anything, it was because I _did _care about you."

"Oh come on…you show up after five years, treating me as if we just saw each other yesterday, not even taking in consideration on how I felt, what I have been feeling for all these years. I don't even understand how you can even face me right now."

Kakashi glared at her, finding it incomprehensible to put together all those words into one thought. Instead, he just simply but coldly replied, "I thought you were smart enough to know why I never saw you again."

Her eyes widened in shock. _Wait a minute, was he saying that it was my fault that he…_

"If I did something to make you upset or hate me then please let me know, because I'm tired of just…not knowing."

His heart stopped. "Hate…you think I hate you?"

Natsumi flinched at the sudden venom in his voice and just looked down, avoiding Kakashi's gaze one again. Luckily, it was too loud for anyone to even notice their argument, with the busy street right next to them and the overflowing stream of customers coming in. It was like they were the only two people in the village.

The ringing emotions in their ears was just too much for them to handle and the tension only increased when they remained silent for a good ten minutes. That silence was finally broken when Kakashi's voice captured her attention.

"You have no idea what it feels like to see you get hurt. How could I possibly live with that feeling if I hated you so much?"

Natsumi looked at him with sad and hurt eyes, but that contact was broken when she heard a loud crash in the kitchen. She turned around to see that a couple of the clumsy waiters had dropped a pile of plates. Trying to ignore that type of situation she turned back to Kakashi only to see that he was gone, with the money for the check was already laid out on the table.

Natsumi tried to look around to see if he was anywhere in sight, but just like five years ago, he left a sad and lonely young girl at the table with a nearly untouched bowl of ramen in front of her.

He truly hasn't changed.


	3. Understand

**Happy New Year's everyone!:) We finally made it to 2012, wasn't this the year that everyone's been waiting for? Anyway, here's chapter two, I can't believe I got it out this fast. But don't worry, it won't stop. I just felt like posting this chapter up soon so here it is. Hope you like it:) and please review I love reviews;)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

* * *

It has been three days since Natsumi had seen Kakashi for the first time in five years…and deep within her soul, she regretted every single moment of that night.

She doesn't know if she regretted getting mad at him or if she regretted ever seeing the man in the first place, her mind was too hurt to even choose. Ever since that night, she kept replaying their argument over and over again in her mind, like it didn't want to let go of that night.

She kept on thinking of ways that, if opportunity arose, she could try and talk to him again, but the chances of that were very slim. Even though he said that he did care about her, he probably never wants to see her again after all the things she said to him. She truly felt like a horrible person now.

Then yet, she also felt like there was nothing to feel sorry about, in fact in anyone should be angry it should be her. The way he treated as if he never left her life at all and he figured that she would just be ok with it? _What's wrong with him? _ she thought angrily to herself. _I didn't leave him, he left me…ugh, Natsumi what are you doing to yourself?_

She mentally kicked herself, knowing that she could never get rid of the guilt that is just waiting to burst inside her. Despite her deep anger towards him, there was still one thing that bothered her, about something he said during their argument.

He said that she should know the reason why he never saw her again up until now, but she never could place any reason as to why he left. She figured that she should remember something like this, but for some reason, she can't remember. She thought for a split second that she had the answer but as soon as it came, it went away.

It was like her memory was trying to get something back.

Natsumi continued to walk down the streets under the afternoon sun as those distant memories began to fade away. The last thing she needed today was to dwell over a man that doesn't want to see her anymore. She stopped in front of a familiar apartment complex and walked inside and up the stairs.

She continued down the hall of the third floor until she came upon the door she was searching for and after a few moments she softly knocked on the door. She heard footsteps on the other side of the door as it got louder and finally, the door opened, greeting Natsumi with a friendly and familiar face.

"Hey there kiddo," Asuma smiled at her.

"Hi Uncle Asuma," Natsumi replied sweetly as said man pulled her into a tight hug and gave her a kiss on top of her head.

"How've you been?" Asuma asked her as he lead her inside and closed the door behind him.

"Um…pretty good, I guess," Natsumi replied meekly.

He raised an eyebrow. "You guess, what does that mean?"

She merely shrugged her shoulders as she sat on the couch. "Would you like something to drink? I'll put some tea on." She gently smiled and nodded in agreement, then Asuma took the cigarette out of his mouth, put on the ash tray and disappeared into the kitchen.

"So, what brings you here all of a sudden?" Asuma asked from the kitchen.

Natsumi was tugging on the bottom of her short kimono when she heard him. "Oh nothing really, can't I stop by to see the coolest uncle in the entire world?"

"Well, yeah you got me there." They both laughed when he came out of the kitchen and sat beside her on the couch.

"So, I heard you got a new genin team?"

"Huh, oh yeah, forgot about them." She giggled at his teasing tone.

"I bet they'll be great ninja one day."

"Hmm, if you consider a lazy ass kid, a self – absorbed little girl, and a chip chomping plush boy as great ninja, I must have hit the jackpot."

She rolled her eyes as she continued. "You don't know, maybe one day they actually will be."

"Eh, we'll see, if I can survive in the end. With these guys it's like having three angry cats just clawing on to you and ripping your skin right off." They both cringed at the idea. "But, I think Kakashi might have it worst though."

"Really, how so?"

"One of his students is Naruto Uzumaki, you know the loud mouth kid; and I think you already know one of them, Sasuke Uchiha."

Natsumi was astonished, to think that Itachi's younger brother could have landed on Kakashi's team, out of all people.

Just thinking about Itachi, however, made it too hard to bear. She could never imagine that Itachi could ever commit a horrible crime like that to his own people, to the village…to her.

He once promised her that he would never hurt her and that he would always protect her no matter what, it was pretty obvious that that was a lie. Did that mean that their friendship was also a lie as well, a ruse, a game?

This brought her back to a time when Itachi asked her something that she did not quite understand, it was also the day that Kakashi saved her life.

"_Natsumi, will you always be my friend…"_

"…_even if I did something bad?"_

_Oh, Itachi…Kakashi…why?_

There was an uncomfortable silence between them when Asuma finally spoke. "Well don't keep me in suspense what's wrong?"

Natsumi looked up to him. "Hm…nothing's wrong, why would you ask that."

"You have this seriously depressed look on your face, and the last time I saw that look is when you realized that Kakashi was never coming back." Natsumi looked down at the floor when a nostalgic sadness overwhelmed her mind.

"Speaking of Kakashi, I just ran into him a couple days ago," said Asuma. Natsumi's eyes widened, her heart pounding against her chest. She knew where this was going. She embarrassingly buried her face into her hands and groaned in disbelief that this was happening.

"He didn't look too happy when I saw him, in fact he looked just like you right about now," Asuma continued on, "I was thinking you might have an idea what is going on with him."

She looked up confused. "Wait, he didn't tell you anything?"

"Tch, like he would say anything to me."

Natsumi frowned, _It's probably better if I just get it out sooner than later. _She sighed, "Kakashi and I saw each other three days ago."

Asuma reached for the pack of cigarettes on the coffee table and slipped one out. "Hmm, figures."

"He took me out to dinner and…I don't know, everything got out of control, I just don't know what to make of this."

"Well, what happened?" he lit his cigarette.

"We had a fight, it was just because I was so angry at him for pretending like everything was ok, like I wasn't feeling so alone ever since he left; and then he said that it was because he cared about me that he left, I mean am I supposed to understand that."

Asuma shrugged. "I don't know, Kakashi is a hard guy to understand, even for you. He's had a tough past so it's hard to say what his reasons are for doing what he did."

Natsumi was about to say something when she heard the teapot on the stove give a high pitched whine and Asuma stood up to go get it. Natsumi sat there with her scattered thoughts, wondering about the unbelievable possibility that, even after all the time they spent together, she still doesn't fully understand Kakashi at all. After all, she must be so naïve to not know why he left her.

Asuma returned to the living room with a tray in his hands carrying the teapot and two small cups and placed it on the table.

"But don't worry, he doesn't hate you," Asuma said as he poured tea into the two cups.

"How do you know that?" Natsumi asked, keeping her head down as Asuma handed her a cup.

"Believe me it has to be physically impossible for Kakashi to hate you." Her eyes went up to him.

"And although I'm still partially mad at him for leaving you like that, I do believe him for what his reasons are."

Natsumi sipped her tea carefully not to burn herself. "You really think he doesn't hate me?"

"Like I said, it's impossible for him to hate you. You're too important to him for him to feel that way." Her eyes immediately widened when he spoke those words to her.

"You guys were inseparable after you met each other for the first time, I've never seen anything quite like it in fact."

Natsumi smiled. "Well, those times are over, it doesn't matter if he hates me or not, it's never going to be the same again."

Asuma made a sideways glanced to her as he sipped his tea. "You know, Kakashi did actually say something to me when I said hi to him." Natsumi's eyes widened shock.

"He did?"

"Yeah, when he finally spoke to me he said 'Make sure that Natsumi's ok, I can't bear the thought of her being sad.'"

She made an inaudible gasp, one she hoped that her uncle did not catch, as her heartbeat rang in her ears. She was still trying to make of the words Kakashi spoke about her. _Does he really still care about me, even after the argument we had? _

"Makes you wonder doesn't it?" Asuma asked in an insightful manner.

"What do you mean?" Natsumi asked curiously but Asuma merely just took a sip of the steaming tea.

"Nothing…hey, isn't Konohamaru supposed to be out of school by now? Maybe you should go pick him up."

Natsumi was quickly snapped out of her thoughts. "Oh, right I probably should go then." She put her cup of tea down and got up, with Asuma standing up behind her to escort her to the door.

"Thanks Uncle Asuma, for the talk. It was really helpful."

"Please don't mention it, anything for my favorite niece, right?" Natsumi opened the door, not before giving him a quick goodbye hug and a kiss on the cheek.

"I'll see you later then, I love you," Natsumi said as she walked out the door.

"Love ya too kiddo." Asuma finally closed the door and leaned his back against it. He smiled teasingly.

"Natsumi, you are too pure for your own good."

* * *

Natsumi did as Asuma instructed and met up with Konohamaru to escort him back home. When they got home, just like every night since their mother died, Natsumi prepared dinner, much to her little brother's satisfaction and delight, and once they were done eating, Konohamaru went to his room and did…well, whatever he did when he was alone.

Natsumi kept on thinking as she cleared off the table and washed the dishes. She never actually minded to do all the chores now. In fact, it made her feel more like her mother, which was a pro fact on her account. She always wanted to be like her mother, and if she kept on doing things as she did them now, she might just do that.

Continuing on with her chores, she finished the dishes and afterwards, she went to her room to prepare for bed. She dug through her closet to look for her favorite light blue nightgown, and finally spotted it among all the other assortments. She gracefully undressed herself and slipped her body into the soft fabric, and once she was done, she sat on top of her bed with her knees pulled close to her chest.

The past few days felt like a boulder just kept pressing on her heart, with the slaughtering thoughts of both Kakashi and Itachi kept prying into her soul. Each time she thought about them, she felt as if she also had to carry the burden of their pain and mistakes as well…a burning curse.

It was different with Itachi, however, he knew what he was doing. He hoped to sever all bonds he ever had with the village.

He severed anything tied to her.

_In the red glow of the sunrise, a thirteen-year-old Natsumi Sarutobi awakes from her sleep._

_She climbs out of her bed to do her morning routine; she hoped that by now Uncle Asuma was in the kitchen preparing breakfast for her and her little brother, something that he would usually do now that they were on their own._

_As time passed by to that moment, many people began to realize that Natsumi was growing into a dazzling beauty. Even at her young age, it was evident that Natsumi was the most beautiful creature in the entire village, if not the Land of Fire. The villagers were captured by her gentle face, her innocent nature entrancing them even more so, though Natsumi could never take notice of this._

_Instead, she went on with her daily life that she lived in right now, which involves getting up from bed, getting dressed for the day, eat breakfast, and take care of her little brother, who just began speaking only a few mindless words._

_Even though she had her life all organized, despite her young age, no one could understand why she didn't enroll into the ninja academy, just like her grandfather, her uncle, and her parents. Sometimes Natsumi didn't know herself, but yet she did know; however, she didn't understand why everyone else couldn't see why._

_Although she was not a ninja, she was still well educated when she was younger by her mother and her grandmother. She knew how to read, which is one of her favorite hobbies, she was taught about the outdoors and all the hidden villages, and even the ninja itself. No matter what, there was something about the ninja world that she learned every day._

_She was never a dumfounded little girl…she could survive on her own._

_Once she was done getting her floral designed, light pink kimono on, she stepped out of her bedroom towards the kitchen, ready for a nice breakfast, and of course, a visit with Itachi. She wanted to tell him about a secret hideaway that she found in the forest, one they could go to together. Much to her dismay, she did not see her uncle in the kitchen like he said he would be. She looked around and saw that the house was entirely empty, her brother not being here because he was spending the night at his grandfather's house._

_The environment in her house was haunting, as if an evil presence has taken the village. She ran out of the house to escape, but to no avail._

_Outside on the streets there were people running, along with women and children, fear drilled in their eyes. She looked beyond and saw that there was a large crowd gathering outside the Uchiha residence._

_Worry filled her eyes, 'Oh my god,' she thought, '…Itachi.'_

_She ran towards the gathering crowd to see what was going on, and saw that there were ninja of all rank: chunin, jounin, and even the ANBU black ops were all in the Uchiha residence, trying to keep the villagers from entering._

_As Natsumi looked around, she saw, to her horror, bodies being carried away by doctors and ninja. She even saw some people standing on the sidelines throwing up onto the earthy ground. Tired of just wondering, she tried to go around a clearer area by the residence but saw that everything was blocked off._

_There were mothers trying to keep their kids away from the sight and men ushering to get in to help. It was a disaster, and no one seemed to know what was going on. It was at that moment of thought that she heard a familiar, yet wonderful voice call out her name._

"_Natsumi," a man's voice called out to her. She turned away from the crowd to see a man in an ANBU uniform, with the recognizable mask that she could identify with immediately, she now felt safe._

"_Kakashi," she yelled out to him as she ran to him and wrapped her arms around his torso, with him hugging her back lovingly._

"_What are you doing here, you shouldn't be – " Kakashi was cut off when Natsumi looked up to him._

"_What's going on?" she asked desperately, "What happened to everyone in there?"_

_Kakashi looked away, not knowing how to tell her, if he ever could tell her. He then looked back to her with assurance._

"_There's was an incident…the Uchiha clan has been attacked."_

_Natsumi was taken aback. "What?"_

"_A lot of people died, but we don't know why exactly."_

_Her eyes just remained widened, then something hit her. "Itachi…what about Itachi? Is he ok, is he alive?"_

_Kakashi was heartbroken by the desperate voice coming from within her. He couldn't possibly tell her the truth, not in this situation, not now. The last thing she needs right now is to know the cruel truth. Instead, he took off his mask to look into her lovely eyes, face to face, in comfort._

"_He's alive, but he's missing right now." Some color flowed back to her face in relief, but there was still some worry in her eyes to the fact that Itachi is nowhere to be found._

"_But don't worry, we'll find and bring him back home. Everything will be just fine, you'll see."_

_She smiled at him, with that reassuring look in his eyes, knowing that everything in the end will be fine._

"_I believe you," she told him, making him smile back. He then secured his mask back on as another ANBU member appeared before him._

"_Kakashi," he spoke, "it's time."_

"_Very well," he spoke back. "I have to go now Natsumi, but I'll be back soon and Itachi as well." He then took off, along with several other ANBU and jounin ninja, to the entrance of the village, neither one of them ever looking back._

_Natsumi looked back to the villagers, all with a dreadful fear upon their face, life draining from their body. All Natsumi could do was sympathize with them, but she had to keep a brave face on, not just for her but for everybody; for she held onto the hope that will return what was lost to the village._

_If only she realized that there was no hope at all._

Natsumi drifted back to reality when she heard a tapping on her window. She turned around to see the face she did not expect to see ever again.

Kakashi.

She quickly got up and went to the window to slide it open to grant him entrance.

She was still in a state of shock, not understanding why he was at her window. She blinked in confusion, trying to get her words out. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, hello to you, too," he said in his normal calm tone.

"What is it?" she asked almost impatiently. Kakashi finally stepped inside her bedroom, closing the window behind him in order to block the cold air from gaining entrance.

He sighed. "Listen…I'm not very good at this…but, I didn't like where we left off, at dinner."

Natsumi caught the sincerity in his voice, her eyes no longer disturbed by anger.

"I came to apologize for…well everything I guess, I had no right to invade your emotions like that."

Natsumi looked up at him sweetly, now knowing his intentions. She smiled up to him.

"Yeah, me too."

"Ummm…you are?"

"Well of course, I mean I shouldn't have judged you like that so rationally, so in my part, it's my fault to. So, therefore, I'm sorry."

"Oh, well then, apology accepted."

Natsumi smiled at him, with him smiling back underneath the mask as well. There was a moment of silence between them, doing nothing but gazing at each other for what seemed like hours until Kakashi remembered something.

"I actually have something for you." He pulled something out from his pouch. A small red box with a ribbon tied in a bow on top. "Something to make up for the other night."

She looked up at him skeptically, and took the box from his hand. She inspected it to its fullest and finally opened it. Inside was a long, silk ribbon, which was neatly wrapped up so that there weren't any folds or creases to ruin the fabric. It was a baby blue colored silk, with beautiful but tiny black beads that were decorated along the border, the fabric still flowing with all its grace. Natsumi had to admit, it was a beautiful present. It was simple, yet it was gracefully crafted.

She took it out to examine it more, feeling the smooth fabric between her fingers and her delicate fingers running over the tiny little beads.

"I know it's not like the lily you saw in the market," Kakashi said embarrassed with his one eye closed and him scratching his head, "but when I saw this, I couldn't resist. I mean after all, I knew blue was your favorite color and – "

"It's perfect."

"Huh?"

"It's perfect Kakashi, I love it. Thank you so much."

Kakashi gave her a small smile under his mask. "You're welcome."

He watched her pull her hair into a half sweep, and tied the ribbon in a bow on the part of her hair that was pulled off. What Kakashi didn't expect was how beautiful the ribbon looked on her. A few strands of her hair was brushing against her smooth skin, along with long strands of loose hair that swayed perfectly over her shoulders. Kakashi was speechless.

"Oh," Natsumi gasped worriedly by the expression on his face, "does it look bad on me?"

Kakashi looked up to her trying to find the right words. "Huh, oh no, no it's not that. In fact it looks beautiful on you…it's meant for you."

Natsumi tried very hard to hide the blush that was appearing on her face. As she did, however, a yawn came out of her mouth, while Kakashi noticed the growing bags under her eyes.

"You've been working too hard; you need to get some rest."

"Yeah you're right," she turned around to pull the sheets out, not before she said, "Thank you for the gift it was wonderful."

"I'm glad." She smiled as she got into bed and turned off the lights. "I better get going now, so I'll just leave you to sleep." He noticed, however, that by the time he finished his sentence, she was fast asleep.

Kakashi chuckled a little bit as he watched her steady chest rise and fall with every breath and how her hair was perfectly spread out against the pillow.

He was just about to leave when he decided to walk up to her bed and give her a kiss on her forehead. He quietly walked up, bent over with his mask still on, and leaned in for a quick kiss.

He stopped…he just couldn't do it.

"_You're such a fool, Kakashi," _he thought to himself as he walked away in shame and disappeared through the window and into the night.


	4. Beauty

**Well here's chapter three, again so fast! This one is different because it is mainly about Natsumi and her relationship with the village. I thought it was fun to right because we get a glimpse at her personal thoughts and also the villagers'. Hope you enjoy. And please review;)  
**

**To aniwolfgirl: The story takes place at the beginning of the Naruto (Part I) storyline, so Kakashi is 26 and Itachi is 18. Hope that helps. Thanks for reviewing:)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto**

* * *

Natsumi looked down at her beautiful present the morning after, which lay on top of her dresser. Getting ready to start off the new day, she took the ribbon, tied her hair up into a graceful half sweep style, the way that Kakashi liked it. She proceeded to putting on her magenta colored kimono, along with her stockings, and after she was done, she walked out of her home for the new day.

As she strolled down the streets, she greeted the friendly faces that greeted her back. She was oblivious, however, to some of the onlookers that were examining every inch of her beauty that radiated off her body.

If only she could understand what some of the thoughts were going on behind their eyes. In the eyes of the villagers, she was the perfect being. Kind, honest, sweet, gentle, and had the presence of an angel.

In effect of her kind and pure nature, she created many friends among the villagers. Although most of them saw her as the third hokage's granddaughter, they also saw her as a person whose presence is always welcomed.

Whenever she walked down the streets, she was always enlightened by the friendly yet strange crowds of creatures that walk past her every day; she was always intrigued by their abnormal presence around her, as if they were trying to connect with her physically and mentally.

She could never pay attention to that, but it was never certain if it was for the better or the worse. The villagers of the Hidden Leaf were known as people who know how to throw a festival, and some of the men who were heavy on their liquor would mindlessly give her lewd stares and even sometimes tried to grab her, but she would always try to shrug them off in a friendly manner. She was always too good to consult to violence, it was in her nature.

It was always a mystery to the village and to her for that matter, of how someone like her could even survive in a society like this, one filled with hate, as compared to her who could not stand to hate anyone. It remained a mystery to all, as all they could do was watch the otherworldly creature continued to walk through the marketplace under the morning sun, as a person who doesn't even know who she is to the village.

Natsumi stopped by a fruit and vegetable stand to observe some of the groceries that she will be buying. The owner behind the stand noticed her and went up to her.

"Why hello there, Natsumi," said the owner.

"Hello," she kindly greeted him.

"Is there anything I can do for you?" Natsumi took little notice to the red color that was appearing on his face.

"Oh, no thank you, I'm just looking at what you have."

"Please take your time an – " he stopped when he saw his son, about the same age as Natsumi, coming up to the stand with a new cargo of food.

"Katsu," the owner called out to him who looked up and nearly dropped the crate when he saw Natsumi standing there at the shop.

"Y-Yes, father," he stuttered nervously.

"See to it that if Natsumi here needs any assistance, you will provide it for her immediately. Oh and, uh put that crate up here." The owner motioned for his son to put the crate in the area he desired. Once he did so, the owner went to the back of the shop, leaving Katsu and Natsumi alone out in front of the stand. He nervously tried to get closer, but only found himself fidgeting more.

"S-So, you must be Natsumi Sarutobi," he began.

She looked up at him, nodding in assurance. "Yes and you must be Katsu."

"Yeah that's great, how did you know that?"

"Your father just said your name."

His smile began to disappear, "Oh, right, of course."

Natsumi smiled and went back to observing the different kinds of fruits.

"You know," he began again, "everyone talks about you."

Natsumi looked up at him curiously. "Do they?"

"Oh yeah, I mean lots of times…I mean, you are the third hokage's granddaughter, who wouldn't talk about you."

"What kinds of things do they say about me?"

He looked very embarrassed right about now. "Oh no, no, no, no, nothing bad at all, especially coming from me. Well, it's not like I say anything good about you all the time, but that doesn't mean I say anything bad either, you're a good person and all but – "

Natsumi stopped him by putting a hand on his shoulder to calm him down. "It's ok, I understand."

A heavy blush rushed to his face as he calmed down to the warm feeling of her hand on his shoulder.

She smiled as she went back to gathering all the fruits and vegetables that she needed. "Excuse me, can you help me bag these up."

Katsu snapped back from his wonderful daydream as her saw Natsumi with a bundle of food waiting to be bagged. He quickly realized what she was waiting for and hurried behind the counter to get the bags.

"Oh yes, yes, of course, right away ma'am." He pulled out a large paper bag, stuffed all the groceries into it. She handed him the money to pay for as she waved goodbye to him and walked off.

The owner got back in time to see the beautiful young girl walk off, with his son looking after her with a dreamy eyed expression. It was met with a slap in the back of his head by his father, as he groaned in pain and turned to his father in shock.

"Ow, what?" The father only shook his head.

* * *

"So, Sakura do you want to, uh, go get some ramen with me, I mean after all I – " Naruto Uzumaki was cut off by his pink-haired teammate, Sakura Haruno.

"Uh, no thanks," she said with a near disgusted tone of voice. She then turned dreamily to the raven-haired boy, with a cool, dark expression emanating from his posture.

"Hey Sasuke, do you want to go get something to eat?" Naruto stared wide eyed and opened mouth to the Sakura's dreamily ridiculous question.

"Hey! Wait a minute!"

"I'm off to go train," Sasuke replied emotionlessly.

"You're right, we should just leave Naruto and go train together," Sakura squealed in delight.

"Hey! Don't you think I should come too, I mean we have that new mission tomorrow, so we better – "

As they walked around the corner, Naruto stopped mid-sentence when he spotted a figure coming towards them. He, along with the others, ducked behind the corner before the girl coming towards them would notice.

Naruto and Sakura peeked out to get a better view of the young woman. Naruto had to admit, she was by far the most beautiful thing he's ever seen in his life, even more beautiful than Sakura he painfully admitted in his mind. She seemed to have the appearance of something not from this world, Naruto did not know how to describe it.

He can tell from Sakura's face, that she agreed with him as well. He relayed his attention back to the girl as she continued on.

"Wow…she's…she's," Naruto tried to get his words out of his mouth.

"She's so beautiful," Sakura stared in awe as she finished Naruto's sentence, "Sasuke, you have to come see her, she's – "

"Eh, I don't care."

"But Sasuke, " said Naruto, "you really have to see this, it's not like –" Naruto was getting so excited that he tripped over Sakura's foot and fell face first on the ground in the middle of the road. He painfully got up and rubbed the occurring bump on his head when he bashfully noticed a familiar figure standing in front of him.

He slowly looked up and saw the beautiful young woman standing right before his eyes, and he was sitting on the ground like a wandering idiot.

"Uh…uh," Naruto stuttered, with Sakura behind the corner, nearly biting her fingernails, knowing full well that they were caught watching her.

"Are you ok?" she asked in a concerned tone.

"Huh? Oh, uh yeah I'm fine. A ninja like me can handle this, ow!" Naruto tried to cover up his misstep, but it didn't work out like he planned it."

Natsumi giggled, as she put down her groceries and held out her hand to take. "Well, a strong ninja like you should always be careful, no matter what."

Naruto blushed when she said "strong ninja," as he took her hand, with his eyes staring up at her in wonder.

"What's your name?" she asked.

"Oh, that's right, I'm Naruto Uzumaki! The greatest ninja in the world, believe it!"

Natsumi laughed at this. "I see…and who are your friends back there?"

Sakura was nervous, knowing that she would have to come out sooner or later. When she did she introduced herself, with Sasuke behind her looking down in a cool fashion.

"Ummm…I'm Sakura Haruno, and this is – "

"…and the other guy isn't really important, so – "

"Sasuke Uchiha," Natsumi immediately recognized him.

Sasuke looked up in astonishment, _How did she…_

"You probably don't remember me, but I was a friend of your bro – your family." She didn't want to bring up the issue of Itachi, it would only bring him more pain; a family friend is more subtle.

"You sure have grown, the last time I saw you, you were just joining the academy." She smiled to him.

Sasuke held his wondering stare, until he just shrugged it off, looking away in his usual manner.

Natsumi just looked at the others, then she realized something. "Wait a minute, aren't you all Kakashi Hatake's students?"

Naruto looked up in surprise. "Hey that's right, you know him?"

"Mmhm, he and I have been friends for quite a while now."

"Isn't he the greatest? He's taking us on our first C-ranked mission tomorrow."

Natsumi looked at him confusingly. "C-ranked, aren't you guys a little young for that type of mission?"

"Well yeah, but the third hokage thought we were too cool for all those lousy chores so he – " he stopped when Sakura punched him on top of his head.

"Enough already, can't you see she's tired of you talking?"

"Oww, but Sakura – "

Natsumi only laughed harder at this. "Actually, I enjoyed this conversation; you guys are alright, weird, but alright."

Bothe Naruto and Sakura blushed, with Sasuke continuing to look away.

"Well I better get going, after all, I don't want to keep a strong ninja like you away from your training." Natsumi picked up her groceries as she walked off, until she turned back around.

"Oh, by the way, my name is Natsumi Sarutobi, in case you were wondering. I'll see you guys later." She waved behind her.

Naruto and Sakura stared in awe as she walked off.

"Wow, what a lady," Naruto nearly drooled until he noticed Sakura next to him, "uh, I mean, not as much as a lady like you Sakura, I mean you're – "

"Shut up Naruto," Sakura said annoyingly, leaving Naruto in a hard place.

* * *

"Come in," the third hokage said when he heard a knock on his office door. When it opened, he was pleased by the sight of his granddaughter in the entrance.

"Natsumi," he greeted happily, "please come in." As soon as she was motioned to come to him, he stood up from his desk, and gave her a heartwarming hug.

"How are you my dear?" he asked tenderly.

"I'm good grandpa." They both released each other as he remained standing.

"What brings you here?"

"I just wanted to say hi to you, and make sure you're ok."

"Well, I assure you, I'm perfectly fine handling myself, my dear. You have done so much already, you need to think about yourself, try to start a new life."

"I'm happy grandpa, I really am."

"I see, how about we take a walk." She nodded, as he guided her out of the building and into the gardens outside. They strolled under the archway of vines as they continued one.

"I saw Asuma yesterday," said the third hokage. Natsumi's eyes widened, she already knew where the conversation was heading.

She sighed. "Did he tell you that…"

"Yes, he told me about you and Kakashi."

"Ugh, grandpa, I…w-wait a minute, Uncle Asuma actually spoke to you?"

The third hokage eyed her. "We are not always like_ that _Natsumi. We always speak to each other when it concerns you and Konohamaru. We take your safety as top priority."

Natsumi shrugged casually. "So, what did he tell you?"

"Only…just about everything." He gave her a sly smile, and she groaned.

"Does everyone in the entire village know?" she asked sarcastically.

He laughed. "No, no I assure you, no one knows about what your actual relationship is with Kakashi."

She rolled her eyes. "But, still…"

"Natsumi, I am aware of the fact that your past with Kakashi has not been easy for you, considering the circumstances…"

She looked down sadly.

"That is why I want to watch out for you, and so does Kakashi."

Natsumi looked up to him with a grateful smile as they walked around the maze of bushes.

"You are exactly like your mother," Natsumi looked up at him in shock, "You were always too kind, always putting yourself before others no matter what; your father also had that similar trait as well."

Natsumi tried to put on a brave face when she thought of something.

"Grandpa, is there something wrong with me?"

He looked at her in shock.

"Well of course not, why would you say that?"

"Well, it's just, I have this feeling that I'm different from the rest of the village. They always treat me like…well, it's hard to explain."

"Oh, I see. I just don't see a problem here. You have always treated others with respect, no matter who they are, so it's no wonder that they would treat you the same."

She chuckled. "Thanks Grandpa."

He nodded. "Like I said, you're like your mother. It's too bad that she didn't live to see you grow up.

"Yeah," she responded sadly.

"I'm sure she's very proud of you." This made her smile.

"Now, in the matter concerning Kakashi, I don't think you will be running into him soon, he's about to go on an escort mission…"

"I know, I ran into his students just a while ago."

"They're a handful aren't they?" he asked teasingly.

"Yeah, but they're cute."

"That's the problem…"

"I see what you mean."

The third hokage looked toward the setting sun, realizing that it is getting late.

"It's almost dark, Natsumi. Maybe you better be on your way home."

Natsumi nodded in agreement.

"I'm sure Konohamaru is in the mood for some of your homemade soup."

She giggled as she gave him a hug and walked off back to her home.

* * *

_Is there something truly wrong with me?_ Natsumi thought curiously as she stirred the beef and vegetable stew in the pot. Konohamaru was sitting in the living room, looking through his shonen manga collection.

"Hey Natsumi, is it almost ready?" he shouted from the living room.

She rolled her eyes. "Yes, just about."

As she stirred in some seasoning, she wondered about all the strange encounters she's had with the villagers. Their strange looks, their worshipping attitude, it was all so unrealistic to her.

In her opinion, there was nothing about her to really care about. Despite what others say about her, she was nothing like her mother.

She wasn't beautiful like her, or as kind. Her mother was strong, while she was weak. She could never live up to the standards her mother had obtained, it was simply impossible.

There were so many things about her mother that she could list on the top of her head, that she could never compare herself to, but it only reassured the fact that there would be no one like her for lifetimes to come.

It made her want to cry.

She turned off the stove as she called her brother over to the table. He did as she got two bowls and spoons out, poured some soup for her brother and served it to him. She poured herself some as she poured some for herself and started eating.

She looked over to her brother, who was already making a mess on the table.

"Konohamaru, don't be so sloppy all the time…here," she handed him a napkin, as he gave her a pout.

She rolled her eyes in annoyance as she continued eating.

She thought about how she was going to escape the growing curiosity of the village. To her, it was only getting annoying trying to guess on how the village really thought of her. It nearly tore her to shreds.

In fact, the only person who seemed to treat her normally, was Kakashi. Even Itachi at one point, but he was gone for good.

To escape would be like trying to avoid death itself. She could never get the gut wrenching feeling out of her core.

She then thought of Kakashi, how he was lucky to be a ninja, how he could leave the village whenever asked to, while she was stuck her, under the wandering eyes of all the villagers.

It was torturous to think about it.

Then, the light bulb went on in her head. She found a way to, temporarily, escape. She turned to her brother.

"Konohamaru," who was currently trying to tug a piece of meat off of his fork.

"Yeah?"

"Would you like to stay at Uncle Asuma's house for a while?"

He looked up at her questioningly. "Why?"

"I'm going to be a little busy for the next few days, and I don't want you around while I'm like that."

He shrugged. "Ok, when?"

"Tomorrow."

"Sure, I'll get my stuff ready right now," he said excitingly as he quickly finished his soup and ran off into his bedroom.

Natsumi also finished her soup as she went to her room to get ready…after all, she did have a long journey ahead of her.

* * *

**Special Note: The necklace that Natsumi gave Kakashi, which was mentioned in chapter one, was inspired by the picture of Kakashi in volume two. He's sleeping and he has a chain around his neck, but the necklace isn't really shown, so that was my interpretation of it. It's the cover for chapter sixteen, volume two if you want to check it out.**

**Next chapter is the start of the Land of Waves arc, so hang in there!**

**Review please:)  
**


	5. Journey

**AN: I had trouble writing this chapter, because I wanted to retell it without "retelling" the storyline if you know what I mean, so I came up with this. The dialogue and events are a little different so that it could fit the story, so I hope you enjoy it! Please review;)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto  
**

* * *

Kakashi looked on ahead of his eager students as they exited the village for the new mission, unaware of what the uncertain future will bring him.

The team had just received their first C-ranked mission escorting the bridge builder, Tazuna, to the Land of Waves. They haven't even left the village, and the mission wasn't going off on a smooth start already. Naruto is up to his limit with the bridge builder, physically up to his limit.

Kakashi knew better than anyone that there wasn't anything he could really do about that type of situation, especially when it comes to Naruto. In the end, he could only watch, much to his dismay.

As they traveled, the journey almost seemed like an on-and-off relationship between two people. It was screaming and shouting, quiet, screaming and shouting, and quiet again. If there's no shouting, there's no talking.

Naruto was being, well Naruto, Sasuke was brushing off his teammates as if they were dust under a rug, and Sakura was just hanging on to Sasuke like a lifesaver.

He couldn't think about that right now, he had to focus on the mission at hand. He didn't know what it was, but he had that strange feeling that there was more to this mission than what they have already learned.

The group traveled further towards their destination, with view of their home behind them disappearing each moment they took a step.

In the middle of their journey however, Kakashi sensed another strange feeling…the gut sense feeling that they were being followed.

He halted for the group behind him to stop. They were looking at him confusingly.

"Kakashi-Sensei, what's the matter?" asked Sakura.

Kakashi swiftly darted his eyes around the environment. "We're being followed."

The group, especially Tazuna, got nervous. Now all of them were looking around them in near fear, trying to spot an enemy that was nowhere in sight, as if there wasn't one in the first place.

"Huh, huh," Naruto looked around anxiously, pulling out his kunai knife in defense, "who is it? Where's he at? I'll take care of him before he even takes one step to us!"

_I don't want to leave Mr. Tazuna here by himself, _Kakashi thought to himself, _but the presence I'm sensing right now isn't far, it's actually very close._

"Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura," they all turned up to him when the said each of their names, Naurto putting his kunai knife down slowly.

"Stay here with Mr. Tazuna, I'm going to go check it out." They all nodded in agreement as they stood in formation.

Then, Kakashi disappeared into the bushel of trees.

As he looked around all he could see so far was the airy trees that surrounded him, but he knew that they all hid something

He took out his kunai as he slowly scouted behind every tree closest to him. If an enemy was following them, he had to be prepared to make a quick and swift kill.

So far, there was nothing, as Kakashi pondered the notion if his senses were wrong, it could happen.

At least, that is what he thought before something jumped up from behind him and gave him a tight hug from behind his back.

A startled Kakashi tried to look back, ready to kill before an all too familiar voice spoke.

"Surprised?"

Upon hearing that voice, he turned around to see a smiling and teasing face of the girl he saved many years ago. She was wearing her ribbon this time in a high ponytail, that cascaded down the fabric of her favorite magenta colored kimono with all its grace. He noticed that she had a shoulder bag, which he painfully presumed was filled with clothes and other supplies.

"Natsumi?" Kakashi was stricken with shock. Natsumi took a step back to take a better look at him, putting her finger to her chin playfully.

"You look tired, is something wrong?"

Kakashi was tired of games. "What the hell are you doing out here?"

She simply shrugged. "What, now I don't have the freedom to go out in the wide open spaces?"

Kakashi grabbed her wrist in an iron grip, causing Natsumi's smile to disappear, flinching at the pinching pain.

"This isn't a joke Natsumi. I could've killed you, do you understand?"

"But you didn't, isn't that something to be proud of?"

"That's not the point, what are you doing out here in the first place?"

She sighed. "I'm tired of being trapped in that village."

"That's your home, which you are going back to by the way."

"No, please. Look lately I've been feeling, like I don't belong there. Everyone treats me differently."

"That's ridiculous."

"It's true, and besides it's not like I'm not going back there eventually, I just thought it might be nice to get out once in a while."

"That is out of the question, I don't have time to worry about you right now.:

Natsumi was trying to listen to him while attempting to pull her wrist away from him. "Maybe if you weren't so tense, you wouldn't have to worry."

"I'm worried because you attempted to go outside of the village, on your own, with nobody to protect you. How could you be so careless?"

"I'm not…since you were going out on a non-dangerous mission anyway, I could have big strong men like you to protect me." She looked up at him innocently, with her lovely round eyes.

"Nice try, but –"

"I'm sorry, but could you let go of my wrist, I think a bruise wants to wiggle out."

Kakashi looked down and noticed that his and her wrist were still conjoined and quickly let go. Natsumi looked at her wrist and rubbed it where the pain resided.

"What are you made out of, steel?"

Kakashi rolled his eyes. "Look, I don't have the time to deal with this right now, as you can see I'm already busy handling my students and making sure that the bridge builder is safe, I don't have time to –"

Kakashi's eyes widened, _How long has it been since I left the group?_

He started to panic inside his head, how could he have been so lost in time that he forgot about them.

"Kakashi what's the matter?"

"Let's go." He grabbed her hand and he led her back towards the group. She noticed how quickly he was going in order to get there; she knew there was something wrong.

Kakashi was scrambling to get back and finally, he escaped the bundle of trees and bushes and into the clearing of the wide road. There, he saw the children and Tazuna, safe and alert. They turned to him and Natsumi in confusion by his sudden entrance. Naruto then looked up to Natsumi, his curiosity got to him.

"Kakashi-Sensei, is everything al –" Sakura was cut off by Naruto's realization of who the woman was when he made a boisterous gasp.

"Hey, wait a minute, you're that girl we met yesterday!" he pointed his finger at her. Natsumi looked to him, baffled by his sudden interruption.

"Hold on a second," Tazuna yelled out furiously, "What's going on around here, first you go on and leave me alone with these punks, then you come along back with some random girl in tow, are you trying to –"

They were interrupted, however, when two vicious looking ninja appeared behind Kakashi. With one swift movement, they wrapped Kakashi up in chains, knocking Natsumi out of the way.

Then, the horror began. The two ninja tugged on the chains ever so slightly, and in one quick moment Kakashi's body was sliced into pieces, leaving nothing but scattered bloody remains on the earth.

The group could not believe what they had just witnessed.

He was there one moment, and in a heartbeat he was no more

Natsumi's eyes widened in shock, oblivious to the ninja who were descending onto the group.

_This couldn't be happening,_ she thought horrified, _this could not be happening. He can't be…DEAD!_

Natsumi's heart might as well have been ripped out when Kakashi's body parts crumbled to the ground. She had to have been in some terrifying nightmare, where she will wake up and everything will be alright. Where Kakashi will walk up to her and tell her that everything is going to be ok.

This was worse than a nightmare.

Natsumi collapsed to the ground, with no reason to breathe, no reason to go on. Her mind didn't know what to do, while her heart felt like it was about to wither away into dust.

_No…no…no…no…_

Tears were cascading down her face, no longer could they hold back.

The group was fighting with all there might, with Naruto just frozen in shock on the sidelines, a deep cut searing into his hand.

One of the ninja spotted Natsumi frozen on the ground. His evil smile grew, with cruel intent

He turned around and aimed for his new target, with the chain in hand just itching to see her blood splattered on the ground.

"Hello, pretty little piggy," he said violently to himself and to the heartbroken angel on the ground.

Natsumi did not notice him coming towards her, and she didn't care. Without Kakashi there for her, what could she do? She only kept her eyes on the ground, not bothering to get herself out of the way.

All the others could do was watch as innocent blood was about to be spilled before their eyes.

The end did not come.

Natsumi heard the man from above stop his trek towards her, wondering why he did not finish her off like he intended.

She looked up and saw both ninja within the grasp of her dead savior.

_Is this real?_

She couldn't believe it, he was standing right before her eyes, alive and well. Her initial reaction was that she was relieved, but then…

"Kakashi-Sensei!" Sakura shouted to him, happy that he was alive. Naruto still in shock, looked over to where Kakashi's remains should have been and saw instead a pile of sliced pieces of wood.

_Substitution Jutsu._

"I'm sorry that I didn't come earlier Naruto, but I didn't figure that you would freeze up like that," Kakashi simply said.

Kakashi walked over to a nearby tree where he tied both of the shinobi up so that they couldn't get away.

Natsumi heard them start talking, but she didn't care. She was still on the ground, her heart beating at a rate so fast, she could have sworn that she would have been dead right about now. It all went as a blur to her.

When she saw Kakashi "die" right in front of her, all life and time had stopped. If she could have thought of one regret at that moment, it was that she never had the chance to tell him…

She couldn't bear that thought, it was too painful.

Didn't he realize how much he meant to her by now, even though she didn't tell him? How could he?

Did he really believe that she could live without him?

"Are you ok?" a voice approached her.

She was snapped out of her thoughts when she looked up and saw Kakashi standing there…he appeared to be smiling.

_Why is he smiling?_

He held out his hand to her. "Come on."

Without a single flinch in her expression, she took his hand and stood up before him.

"I hope I didn't scare you back there, you see I – "

He didn't finish his sentence. Instead, Natsumi raised her hand and slapped him hard across the face, the connection echoed on. The group turned around to see what was going on, only to find an uneasy silence.

Kakashi's face just kept to the side for a while until the sting subsided, and he turned back to look at Natsumi's face. She was once again avoiding his eyes, not wanting to resist the anger in her heart.

Kakashi's face was stricken with a soft sadness in his eyes as he looked at the crumbling girl in front of him. He knew right now that this wasn't the time to ask her what was wrong. He just continued to watch over her, hoping that at any moment, her beautiful face would look back up to him.

The sadness and hurt in her eyes told him otherwise.

They were in despair.

He turned around. "Mr. Tazuna," the bridge builder looked up to him, "I believe that there is something you have been keeping from us hasn't there?"

The bridge builder looked down in defeat.

"Sensei," Sakura began, "maybe we should go back, it might be better if we just end the mission right now if it's too dangerous."

"Hm, that's true, but there's a problem with that."

They all looked up at him in wonder.

"These ninja have been following us for quite a while now, which means that there are probably more on our tail. Going back would be pointless and it would also mean that Tazuna and Natsumi as well will only be put in more danger, so at this point, there's nothing we can do but to keep going."

Uneasiness spread across their faces.

"However," he continued, "if Mr. Tazuna here does not inform us about the missing details, then the mission will be over, and then we will return to the village."

Tazuna continued to look to the ground; he knows where he stands now.

He adjusted his glassed up properly and spoke. "Very well."

* * *

"Stop your complaining, with this sword, I will carry on the kill myself," said the man, who was pointing his overpowering sword to the small yet dastardly man…Gato.

"Are you sure? I mean this man is on a whole different level, he's very powerful; and besides since the first attempt failed, how do you think you will defeat him?" Gato was trying to maneuver his throat from the sword.

"Who do you think you're dealing with?" the man, whose face was wrapped up in bandages all the way up to just under his eyes. "I am Zabuza Momochi, The Demon of the Hidden Mist."

* * *

The next thing they knew, they were traveling across the ocean through the thick and eerie fog, like ghosts in the night.

They came upon the mighty sight of the unfinished bridge when Tazuna began his story.

He went on how the famous businessman and billionaire, Gato, took over the Land of Waves, and as time went on, he eventually took everything from them. The nation lives in poverty, children are dying, there is little food, money, or resources; the nation was on the verge of converting into ruins. The bridge that Tazuna is building, will connect the Land of Waves to the main lands, and in result, end Gato's reign over the dying nation.

As emotionless as she felt right now, Natsumi almost felt like crying.

Maybe it was stupid of her to go out alone like that, but…but nothing, she was so selfish. Now it was because of Mr. Tazuna's lies that she can't go back to the village.

However, that wasn't what was bothering her.

All she could remember was the feel of Kakashi's face when she slapped him. Truly, she didn't mean to, but her heart dared her to. It was filled up with so much anger and hurt that she didn't even knew she had done it until after.

The entire time after that, she had been avoiding Kakashi's wandering gaze, for she did not deserve to look upon them. She could never confess to him, she will never.

They docked at the pier when they arrived at the Land of Waves. They thanked their escort and headed their way.

As they continued their journey, Natsumi couldn't help but to occasionally glance at Kakashi's back, who seems to notice her avoiding.

She looked down, trying to come up with the nerves to talk to him; but how could she?

Her voice found a way. "Kakashi."

The man turned around in response to her voice, an inner relief filling up inside him. "Yeah?"

"Listen, about what happened back – "

She saw his single eye widen, and within moments he was beside her. "Everyone, get down!"

Shocked, they quickly abided to his command and went to the ground. Kakashi grabbed a hold of Natsumi by the waist and pulled her face down to the ground.

Flying above them was a large sword aiming towards their heads, instead it landed on a tree. When they stood up, a man with half of his face covered in bandages and an evil intention gripping his glare, landed on the handle of the sword with perfect balance.

Kakashi walked up to him. "Well, well, well, if it isn't Zabuza Momochi, rouge ninja of the Hidden Mist."

Natsumi's eyes widened. _Rogue ninja? Do they know each other?_

Naruto tried to charge forward, but was stopped by Kakashi. "Stay out of this, all of you, you will only stand in the way."

"So it is you," said Zabuza, "Kakashi Hatake of the sharingan eye."

Kakashi scowled. "If this is who I'm up against, then I better use this."

He slipped his hand underneath his head band. "Everyone get back, protect the bridge builder and Natsumi, I have to deal with this alone."

Natsumi looked up to his as he pulled his headband up, revealing his left eye. She knew all too well what it was, even before his eye opened to reveal the familiar blood red pool that screamed at her.

"Alright, I'm ready." The Copycat Ninja's eye was already filled with the intent to kill.

* * *

**Well, there you go;) I'm not particularly fond of writing fight scenes****, but I'm actually excited for the next chapter. The Land of Waves arc is one of my faves, so I hope it turns out well. See you soon:)**


	6. Mist

**Hello everyone...sorry that it took longer to update. My sappy story is that I had a virus on my computer so I had to get rid of it, and then the people who were fixing it had the genius idea to upgrade everything on my computer, meaning that I lost my documents. I was really depressed that I had to type up the entire chapter all over again, but here it is. It won't take long next time, but it'll probably be by this Friday because of finals**, **but I might even update another chapter in a couple hours or so to make up for lost time, I'm not sure. Anyway I hope you enjoy the chapter...and review pretty** **please:)**

**P.S.: I made some tiny little changes to some of my chapters, and I mean extremely little. And, just so no one is confused, this story takes place 8 years after the prologue, since some people were asking (Kakashi is 26 and Natsumi is 18).**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.  
**

* * *

Only twice in her lifetime has Natsumi ever seen the sharingan right before her eyes…she was actually one of the only ones who ever saw it twice: the first time was when Kakashi saved her life when she was ten-years-old and the second time was when she was with Itachi, an event that she never clarified about.

To see it once again, however, was an impossible feat for any shinobi that encounters him. As powerful as he was, she never knew that he was so famous, that a simple rogue shinobi could identify him without hesitation…if that's true, then that means Kakashi's dangerous as well.

"Ahh…to face the infamous sharingan eye so early in our acquaintance…this is truly an honor," said Zabuza.

Kakashi only glared at him. He slightly looked behind him to watch the group's horrified faces. No matter what, he had to make sure that Zabuza's attention is focused on him as long as possible, because if he gets to the others, there is no telling of what kind of mayhem the demon of the mist could unleash. More importantly, however, he was worried about Natsumi; Tazuna may have been an old drunk and a stubborn mule, but he was also a man who has probably fended off more enemies with his fists than he can count. He had a family back home, which means that he knew how to defend himself and others as well, at least he knew that much.

Natsumi, however, was different; she wasn't a ninja nor does she know how to defend herself in any aspect, not simply because she was weak, but that her pure soul could never match up with violence very well. Even though Zabuza would come after him first, she would be an easy target, as well as his students since they were inexperienced. He had to come up with a strategy that would keep them out of harm's way, this wasn't just about Natsumi, this was about all of them.

"As much as I would love to stay around and chat, I'm on a very tight schedule to do so right now, so if you don't mind I would like to kill the old man and be on my way."

With that, the three genin readied their kunai knives and stood in formation around Tazuna, while Natsumi was still frozen right behind Kakashi.

"Natsumi," Kakashi called to her, causing the girl to look back "stay behind with the others, I need to make sure that you're safe as well."

He looked at her with a sideways glance and saw the hesitation controlling her gaze. "Don't worry about me, I'll be fine…remember…" Natsumi looked to his chest to see that his fingers were motioning to his charm, the one that Natsumi bestowed to him. She knew what he meant, he meant that he was going to be safe and that they were going to go home together.

Looking at the reassuring look in his eyes, she nodded and stepped back with the bridge builder and the students.

Kakashi turned back to his opponent, who in return gave him a murderous glare.

"Well, well, Kakashi…looks like I'm going to have to kill you first." With that being said, the rogue shinobi took out his sword and disappeared. They all looked around to see where he had gone, knowing that at any moment he will move in to kill them all.

Sakura then spotted something. "Over there, on the water!"

They all turned their heads, and there he was, standing on the water preparing his jutsu. There were several wisps of mist surrounding him like a tornado. They all knew that something was coming. "Ninja art: Hidden Mist Justu."

Zabuza of the mist disappeared with the evading fog.

"He's gone!" exclaimed Naruto. Kakashi looked around, keeping his heart steady, showing the enemy no fear.

"Don't worry, he'll come after me first," Kakashi began, reassuring the others, "Zabuza Momochi used to be a part of the assassin corps of the Hidden Mist…he is a famous master of the art of silent killing."

This sent a shiver down Natsumi's spine. To experience that kind of pain is…something that she couldn't even imagine. Kakashi continued on.

"Letting your guard down is the last thing you want to do right now. I haven't fully mastered the sharingan yet, so I need everyone to be on their toes." They nodded in agreement, with a hint of anxiety spread on their faces.

Naruto squint his eyes. "Man this fog is so thick."

"There are eight targets," a voice spoke out from the whiteness.

"Wha-What was that?" Sakura stammered in fear.

"Throat, spinal column, lungs, liver, the jugular vein, the subclavian artery, kidney, heart…so many choices, what vital, vulnerable place shall I choose? Heh-heh." The voice let out a menacing chuckle, one that had the group's heartbeats racing to the boiling point.

Natsumi looked around, trying to find the source of the voice, even though it was impossible. It was like trying to see through a brick wall. She still held on to the piece of hope that Kakashi gave her. She did truly believe that he was telling the truth when she said that he was going to be ok. However, when she turned to see a trembling and pale Sasuke, she could tell that he was losing his grip on reality. His eyes were wide with fear, she could have sworn that she could feel his heartbeat all the way from where she was standing, and it looked like he was just about to give up on life altogether. She saw his knife, gripped in his hand, with an intention no yet clear to her, _Sasuke, what are you…_

"Sasuke," Kakashi snapped Sasuke out of his apparent trance that Natsumi just witnessed, "calm down, even if he gets me, I'll still protect you." His words made Natsumi's heart sting.

"I will never let my comrades die."

Natsumi couldn't help but allow a tear to stream down her face when he said that. _Why is he trying so hard to protect us…to protect me?_

_I'm nothing…I'm weak…I'm selfish…I'm so stupid, why would he do all this just for me?_

Just then, she felt the burning presence of a demon behind them.

"I wouldn't bet on that."

They all turned around to see that Zabuza was standing between the three students and Tazuna and Natsumi, preparing to slice through them all.

"Game over."

However, Kakashi's eye activated his movements just in time as he was about to swing his sword at the group and was able to speed towards him with a killing blow to his stomach with his kunai knife.

The only thing was, is that it wasn't Zabuza at all. Instead of blood flowing out, there was dripping water.

_A water clone._

This was Zabuza's chance, as he swung his sword from behind, slicing Kakashi's body in half, only to realize that it was also composed of water as well. Kakashi emerged from behind Zabuza, and held his kunai at his throat.

"Game over," says Kakashi. All of the other's faces were now gleaming with hope, a swift victory was at hand.

Then Zabuza chuckled. "You think it's over?"

Kakashi was shocked by his sudden statement.

"You just don't get it… it will take more to defeat me than copying me like some monkey…a lot more. But you are good…too bad for you…"

And with that, the real Zabuza revealed himself, dissolving the water clone, and swung his sword at Kakashi. He ducked the blow but Zabuza was able to kick him with full force, sending him into the water.

Everyone was astounded by his sudden speed and strength, Natsumi was the most worried of them all. She just couldn't bear the thought of just standing around on the sidelines, just watching the person she cares about most be beaten to a pulp.

She watched as Zabuza appeared on the water beside Kakashi to prepare his jutsu.

"Ninja Art: Water Prison."

Within a matter of seconds, Kakashi was enveloped in a sphere like watery prison, engulfing him in cool liquid, helpless and powerless.

Zabuza looked at him gleefully at his accomplishment. "With you running around, it makes it harder to do my job. I'll finish you later…after I've finished of the others…Ninja Art: Water Clone."

The clone of Zabuza formed from the water, ready to take on Zabuza's will.

_No, I can't believe I underestimated him, now…_ Kakashi's mind panicked.

Zabuza's clone let out a scoff. "Look at you wannabes, trying so hard to fit in, with your ninja headband. A real ninja is someone who has crossed and re-crossed the land of the living and the land of the dead. Clothes don't make you a ninja…you are not ninja. Instead we call you…" in a blink of an eye, Zabuza's clone kicked Naruto in the stomach, sending him flying through the air and knocking his headband off. Zabuza stepped forward and stepped on the metal plate on the blue cloth.

Kakashi watched in horror as he saw what unraveled in front of him. He had to make sure that the bridge builder and Natsumi was safe, whose face couldn't bear what she just witnessed. Blood drained from her face and her body was quivering. Kakashi couldn't fail her…not again. But he knew that there was only one option left.

"Everyone listen!" Kakashi shouted to the group, "Take Tazuna and Natsumi and get out of here! It's a fight you can't win! If he wants to keep me in this prison, he can't leave this place. If his water clone gets too far away from his real body, he loses control of it. So just get out of here!"

Kakashi pleaded with all his might, hoping that this will work, that Zabuza will only focus on him, and that the others will be safe.

Natsumi couldn't believe what he was saying. _He wants us to leave him behind? How could he…_

Natsumi looked at Kakashi in his watery prison, who looked right back at her. Just by the look in his eyes, she could read his mind. _Run…get out of here…forget about me…save yourself…everything's going to be alright._

She didn't want to advert her gaze, but her mind was telling her that it was best if they all did what he said.

She looked around to see if there really was a chance to save Kakashi if they could, but with Naruto down and everyone else looking so hopeless, she knew that there was no chance that they could stay here.

She felt so weak right now…this is the reason why she was nothing like her mother.

Right at that moment, to her surprise, Naruto darted once again towards Zabuza, with a determined gleam in his eyes.

"Naruto! What are you doing?" Natsumi shouted after him, but to no avail, Naruto kept on going, not looking back. In one swift movement of his leg, Zabuza kicked Naruto back to his original place, all with ease, and him landing face down.

"Naruto what were you thinking?" Sakura shouted at him angrily, "you can't just go running into someone like that just to look cool! You're only a genin, what were you – "

Sakura stopped, shocked to see the object that was in the possession of his hand…the fallen headband.

Natsumi was in shock as well, _That's why he charged at him like that, just so that he could get his headband back._

She had to admit, the boy was a lot more determined than she gave him credit for. She watched him as he stood up, looking down with a darken expression. "Listen you eyebrow-less freak," he began.

"You have no idea who you're dealing with here. You're looking at a new face in your bingo book, the next hokage of the Village Hidden in the Leaves…Naruto Uzumaki, a super-ninja!"

Natsumi smiled at this, knowing that somewhere deep inside himself, he stood by her desire to stay with Kakashi and save him. It was all they can do now.

"You idiots!" Kakashi shouted at them in frustration. "I told you to run! It's over…it was over the second he caught me! Remember, you have to do your duty, we're here to protect Tazuna."

They all looked back to Tazuna, waiting for his response.

"Look," Tazuna began, " let's face it, it was all my fault about keeping quiet that got us into this mess. I have lived a long life, so it would be wrong to see you all get killed just trying to save me…so go ahead, give this fight all you've got." He gave an encouraging grin.

They all nodded, with Natsumi as well, willing to do anything for her savior from long ago.

Then, they all heard an evil chuckle coming from their enemy. "Well apparently you don't care whether or not you live to grow older."

They stared at him in shock as to what he was implying.

"Playing ninja is like a kid's game…I, however, by the time I was your age, had already coated my hands with my enemies' blood." This sent an aching shiver down Natsumi's entire body, he's even killed people when he was just a child.

"The demon…Zabuza," said Kakashi.

Zabuza looked to him, "So you've heard about that too huh?"

Kakashi began. "Long ago, in the Village Hidden in the Mist, there was one final step that one must take in order to become a ninja, a test so inhumanly impossible."

"Hmm, so you've also heard about the graduation exam."

Naruto grew confused. "Graduation exam?"

"It was a killing spree among students."

Natsumi gasped at this cruel concept, covering her mouth with both of her hands. She couldn't believe it, not for one second, that there could be something so evil existing in this world like what he described. The evidence was clear, when a tear slid down her cheek.

Kakashi continued. "Ten years ago, the leaders of the village had decided to change the concept of the exam, due to the appearance of an individual during the year before that."

Natsumi, without uncovering her mouth, was able to speak. "What did this person do?"

Zabuza smiled. "Without a single thought or even a hint of becoming a skilled ninja, a boy slaughtered the entire class of a hundred students during that year."

Natsumi's stomach twisted from his blissful voice as he said those words, watching his face turn into paradise.

"Ah, those were good times, what fun they were."

His gaze then went to the students, and without hesitation he charged towards Sasuke, kicking him to the ground and stepped on him, keeping him down.

"Sasuke!" Sakura shouted to him. Naruto had no time to waste, with his quick hand sign, he was able to produce dozens of clones, ready to fight.

In an instant, they all descended upon Zabuza, ambushing him to the ground. Zabuza was able to fight them off, and he swiftly swapped all of them away in the air and onto the ground. Naruto reached into his pack as clones started to disappear around him and grabbed a shuriken.

"Sasuke, here," he tossed it over to the adjacent comrade. Sasuke got the idea and quickly turned around to face his opponent.

"Demon wind shuriken: Windmill of Shadows!" And just like that, he threw the mighty shuriken at Zabuza, however, it was not directed at the clone. Instead it was heading towards the real Zabuza.

"Amateur," he mockingly replied as he caught the oncoming shuriken with ease. He did not anticipate the second shuriken hiding behind it, which was coming towards him.

His eyes widened, _Another shuriken?_

He was able to jump with ease, dodging the weapon from below him, not knowing what was in store for him. Behind him, the shuriken transformed into the real Naruto, with a kunai in his hand. Both Zabuza and Kakashi turned around in surprise, both knowing what he was going to do.

"Here goes nothing," said Naruto as he threw the kunai, targeting Zabuza's hand that was keeping the prison up. Zabuza's hand dispatched from the globe releasing Kakashi when Naruto splashed into the water. That was when the unimaginable happened.

Natsumi was so tired of just standing around doing nothing, to watch the nightmare unfold before her eyes. She had to do something…she had to…

She then saw Zabuza aiming his shuriken at Naruto, knowing his intent. It was at that time, that she decided to do something. Looking around she spotted a spare kunai on the ground, and with quickness, she ran towards Zabuza.

Sakura was too late to stop her. "Natsumi! What are you doing?"

Sasuke saw her as well, not believing what she was about to do.

There was no way that Zabuza would think that a harmless girl like her would charge at him like that, and she normally would never do so. But, when someone puts Kakashi in danger like that, she just couldn't do nothing. She had to act…to protect.

She kept on running until a shadowy presence appeared before her.

"Looking for me…" the all too familiar evil voice embraced her, "…girl." She looked up and saw that they were only centimeters away from each other's faces. Her heartbeat quickened so much that it was like she couldn't feel it anymore.

The demon of the mist grabbed her face with one hand, tightly squeezing her jaw and cheeks. She tried to move, but her body was too frozen in fear to do anything

In what seemed like forever, he tossed the frail girl to the ground, with her lying on her back in dull pain. She felt her head hit something, maybe like a large stone, that's why she felt so dizzy, not able to get off of the ground, powerless. Her eyes looked up as far as they could to see that a demon was walking towards her, bloodlust in his eyes.

"It's hard for me to take in that I have to kill someone as beautiful as you."

Natsumi didn't say anything, trying to keep her hazy mind in focus.

"Kakashi…he must be that important to you that you would attempt to kill me, even though you're not a ninja."

Natsumi's breath became short, waiting for the end to just come and claim her.

"Very well…then die you shall." In his other hand, he lifted the shuriken up and spun it in his hand, preparing to slice up his victim. It came down and…she was still able to open her eyes.

She saw that Kakashi was standing over her, his gloved hand that was now bleeding, had stopped the shuriken from piercing her body.

Kakashi looked up at Zabuza, with a twisted, furious look stitched in his gaze, filling Zabuza with fear.

"Your fight is with me," Kakashi hoarsely whispered, "don't you dare touch her."

Natsumi was still on the ground, looking up at the scene above her. She saw Kakashi's eyes shift over to her.

"It's alright Natsumi, go over to the others," Kakashi told her, "I'll handle this."

Natsumi's strength had returned to her, allowing her to nod, stand up, and hurry to the group.

"Natsumi, are you alright?" asked Sasuke as she returned.

"Yes, I'm fine."

As soon as her safety was confirmed, Kakashi looked back at Zabuza, who stood his ground.

Zabuza grinned at him, with a mocking tone in his expression. "So, it looks like the ruthless and powerful Copy Ninja has a soft spot for a pathetic little girl."

This only caused Kakashi's glare to harden, a gaze that could kill Zabuza right then and there.

Instead of stepping back, Zabuza only pressed the blade harder on Kakashi's hand until all four blades were firmly placed on the metal plated glove.

Kakashi did not stand down, and with one move he flung the blade out of Zabuza's hand and into the air, while Zabuza jumped back onto the water, with Kakashi following him.

Natsumi saw that Kakashi has activated his sharingan, and copied the same jutsu that Zabuza was doing.

"Water Style: Water Dragon Jutsu!" They both yelled out simultaneously as two dragons in the form of water, clashed with each other, sending tsunamis of water at the others and drenching them in cool liquid.

Natsumi rose up from the wet dirt and felt cool air hit her as she saw Zabuza's sword clash with Kakashi's kunai under the rainfall of water. The force sent them both back to opposite sides, with Zabuza moving around in a circle with Kakashi in tow. They stopped at a distinct point, where Kakashi has imitated Zabuza's every single move.

Zabuza glared at him, _He's copying all my gestures. Damn it's like he sees –_

"…Through them all." Kakashi continued his sentence.

Zabuza's eyes widened. _What? He can read my mind as well? Damn him, he's – _

"…Got that sickeningly evil look in his eye, right?"

Natsumi had no idea that the sharingan had this kind of power, it was incredible. But Zabuza was right at what he thought…Kakashi did have that sickeningly evil look in his eye.

"You're just a pale imitation –"

"I'm the genuine article. No mere copycat stands a chance against me," they both said it in perfect union. That was the final straw for Zabuza.

Zabuza, out of fury, started doing another hand sign, but it turned out that Kakashi beat him to it.

"Water Style: Giant Waterfall!" It was then that a giant, tornado of water, was aimed at Zabuza, and in full effect, Kakashi propelled it towards him and knocked him on the other side of the lake.

The water once again was too much for the group to handle, barely keeping themselves standing up right.

As soon as the water disappeared and Zabuza was keeping himself up against a tree, Kakashi flung three kunai knives at him, piercing different points on his body. Kakashi landed on a branch above Zabuza.

"It's over," said Kakashi.

Zabuza looked up. "What? Can you see into the future?"

"Yes…your future is death."

It was at that moment that two needles had struck Zabuza from the side of his throat and out the other.

Everyone looked at him in shock, as his lifeless body slumped to the ground…the enemy that took all of Kakashi's power to defeat him, was now dead within a second.

"Well it looks like your prediction did come true," said an elegant voice from above. They looked up, and saw a young man dressed in green and orange robes, with his brown hair tied up in a bun, and an ANBU mask of the mist covering his face.

Natsumi was intrigued yet terrified by the mysterious presence of the assailant. _I don't get it; he killed him with just those needles, while it took all of our strength just to even stand up._

Kakashi leapt of his branch to Zabuza's body and checked his pulse with his fingers on the neck.

He was dead, completely lifeless.

The masked boy spoke. "Thank you for your help, I'm sorry for my interference but I wanted to have the satisfaction of disposing Zabuza myself."

Kakashi examined him. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't you a shinobi hunter from the Village of the Mist?"

"Hmm…well aren't you the sharp one."

Natsumi looked over to Naruto, whose fists were balled up in anger, until he finally exploded. "Hey, wait a minute! What's going on here? I mean it took all of our power to defeat this guy who was practically invincible, and then this guy over here just shows up out of nowhere and kills him in one blow? What is this? Do we suck or something, why – "

Naruto's rampage was short-lived when Kakashi placed a hand on top of his head. "It's ok Naruto, I understand where you're coming from, but this is a fact. This won't be the first time you'll see a man who is younger than you are, and stronger than me."

Naruto gulped, as the masked boy leapt down and gathered Zabuza's body in his arms. "The battle is over, you must rest now. I will take Zabuza's body and dispose of it. I must be off now." The masked boy disappeared in a whirl of wind.

Kakashi pulled down his headband and he walked over to Natsumi, who was staring off into the space.

"Are you alright?" he asked her. She spun around suddenly and sadly smiled at him.

"Yeah, I'm ok," she quietly responded. Without thinking, she guided her hand towards his chest and her fingers lightly grazed the charm dangling down. He looked down at his necklace and winked.

"Told you I'll be alright."

She giggled a little bit until she saw the many cuts and bruises surrounding his body, especially his hand, when he had saved her.

"Your wounds, they're – "

"It's nothing, been through worse. Our mission right now is to escort Tazuna and – "

Kakashi didn't finish his sentence, for he had collapsed to the ground. Natsumi gasped and kneeled right next to him, with the others running to him as well.

"Kakashi? Kakashi!" she called to him, hoping to get a response, but it was no use.

He was already overcome by darkness.


	7. Feelings

**Hello again:) Sorry about the late update, there was a lot of drama back here where I live, we're pulling through though and to celebrate here's a new chapter, enjoy;p**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.  
**

* * *

Kakashi woke up to the smell of sea salt filling his nostrils.

The sound of seagulls' loud chirps, the splashing waves eroding the sand, they all invaded his senses.

Then, he felt the touch of the softest hand he had ever known, on his forehead.

He slowly opened his right eye and looked up to see that Natsumi was dabbing his bare forehead with a hot wet towel, bulbs of droplets cascading down his nose and the side of his face. He sighed heavily and closed his eyes.

"Morning," he said teasingly.

"Hey," said Natsumi, smiling at him tenderly as she put the wet towel back in a bowl of steaming water next to her. Kakashi smiled back as he tried to get up, but there was a sudden pain on the side of his ribs and he cringed at the feeling. Natsumi arms hurriedly went to him, with one hand placed over his heart.

"You shouldn't get up just yet," she said, "I had to wrap up your wounds, and trust me they weren't looking good. It's just better if you lie down for a little while longer."

Kakashi slumped his shoulders in defeat as he felt her hand over his heart begin to push him down gently back onto the bed. He had to admit, it felt a lot better when he was lying down. Natsumi grabbed the soaking towel, squeezed the excess water from the cloth, and once more dabbed his forehead.

Kakashi sighed as he felt the warm water ease his skin, knowing the pain he's been through, he needed it. It wasn't until he felt relaxed, however, that he took a better look at Natsumi. He noticed that she was in the same outfit as when she left the village, only it was filthy and tattered. Worst of all, he noticed a bandage wrapped around her wrist and right thigh, as he could see some dry blood stains seeping through the white cloth. When she began dabbing his forehead, he lifted his hand to gently grab her injured wrist, hoping to get an answer from her…and he already knew what it was.

Natsumi gasped when he grabbed her wrist, and when she saw the look in his eyes, she knew what he was implying. She only gave him a small smile and placed her hand on top of his own, which was holding on to her wrist.

"Don't worry about this, Kakashi," she said, "it's barely even a scratch. I must have fallen over or something, and then – "

"Then why is it that I can smell your blood from here?"

She flinched, and bowed her head shamefully for trying to cover it up…of course he would notice. She had hoped that this wouldn't happen, but of course the universe has a terrible habit of crushing those hopes.

"Look Kakashi, you really shouldn't worry about me, you need to concentrate on you getting better. My wounds aren't as bad as yours so –"

"What happened?" he asked in a cold tone.

She bashfully shrugged, trying to hold back some tears. "Well…m-maybe…well, the water might have been a little too strong for me to handle…I must have fallen against something sharp, so it's not your fault or anything."

He glanced at her sideways and then looked back up to the ceiling with emotionless eyes. "I see, so I did that."

Natsumi did not answer, he took her silence as what he wanted to hear. She looked away from him as she let out a suppressed giggle. "I must have been pretty stupid to have left the village… wasn't I?"

Kakashi shrugged. "I don't know if stupid was the word I was thinking of, more like…insanely idiotic and foolish."

She gave him a small smile, which was overcome by sadness. That sadness was broken quickly.

"I'm just glad you're safe," said Kakashi. Natsumi looked to him in shock over the words he just spoke to her. He still had that same tender attitude to her…just like all those years ago.

"Well now, finally awake I see," said a woman's voice from the door. They both turned to see a dark haired young woman standing there with both of her hands on her hips, not looking all too pleasant.

"You had this young woman worried to death, you know that?" the woman said in a strict tone.

Kakashi stumbled his words. "Well, I….uh –"

"She didn't eat anything, wouldn't sleep, all she would do was sit here and take care of you…I was starting to worry that you would never wake up, or else I would have a starving girl in my hands."

Kakashi sighed. "Well, I'm awake now, but it will be a while until I can fully get back up on my feet again."

It was at that moment that the tree genin students and Tazuna walked in, noticing that their sensei was awake.

"Listen sensei," said Sakura as she sat beside him, "this sharingan of yours is very powerful, but if it keeps hurting you like this, then maybe it would be best if you didn't use it at all."

Kakashi sat up rubbing his head, then grabbing his headband and secured back around his head. "Yeah, I'll think on that."

"Well, the good thing is that Zabuza is dead and I made it back home in one piece, so I guess we can relax for a while. Oh and you can thank my daughter Tsunami for helping you patch up there as well," said Tazuna casually.

"Well, yeah, but still that boy in the mask still bothers me," said Sakura.

"He's part of an elite tracking unit called the shinobi hunters," started Kakashi, "they're part of the ANBU black ops, whose mission is to tail down a fallen comrade and dispose of their corpse. It's done to make sure that an enemy does not obtain a shinobi's secrets such as jutsus and kekkei genkai. A dead body can hold many secrets, for instance, if I were to die at the hands of an enemy, they would want to analyze my body and use the sharingan as a weapon, so a shinobi hunter would come by and dispose of my body. Silently and without a trace that's how a shinobi leaves the world."

"So, that boy in the mask…he's going to dispose of Zabuza's corpse?" asked Natsumi.

"That's right," said Kakashi as he sat up, when a thought triggered in his mind.

Natsumi saw the suspicious gleam in his eyes, as if he just caught something he missed. She studied him as he put his hand over his eyes, concentrating in deep thought.

"Is something wrong Kakashi?" she asked.

"Of course…" said Kakashi, putting a confused expression on Natsumi's face, "the shinobi hunters, who dispose of corpses, are supposed to deal with the body right on the spot."

"Is that important?" asked Sakura.

"Think about it, how did the boy in the mask dispose of Zabuza's body?"

"Well, we don't know what happened the boy took it away with him."

"Exactly, when he should have dealt with the body right then and there and then take his head as evidence."

This left the group pondering about where he was going with this new info.

"Try to think of the weapons the tracker used, do you remember what they were?"

Natsumi thought about is as well as the others. The weapon was senbon needles, but she couldn't place the importance of it.

"No way!" exclaimed Sasuke, as if he knew what Natsumi was thinking.

"Exactly," said Kakashi.

"What the hell are you babbling about?" Tazuna asked in frustration into what was going on.

"Here's the truth…Zabuza is still alive."

* * *

It was definitely no surprise that the revelation of Zabuza's survival came as a shock to Natsumi. That the chance that she will never return home was lingering right in front of her, that they were not safe no matter where they went. Zabuza was out there somewhere and he could strike at any time.

In order to prepare for what could come, Kakashi took the children out for the day, training somewhere in the woods. Kakashi was put on crutches for the time being, so Natsumi tried to think of how Kakashi was going to accomplish this training schedule in that condition.

Natsumi was now in Kakashi's room, cleaning up some of the used bandages and towels that he left behind. She hoped that he would be alright in his current state, the man could barely walk. She was looking more forward to, however, having a talk with him later on about something she was meaning to say before. For now, she just spent time cleaning up and settling into the house.

She snapped out of her thoughts when she heard someone knocking on the door. She called out for the person to come in and the door opened.

"Oh, hi Tsunami," said Natsumi softly.

The woman smiled. "I prepared some lunch if you want some."

"Oh thank you, yes, I'm starving actually."

Tsunami nodded as Natsumi got up from the chair she was sitting in and walked towards the door. Tsunami led her downstairs to the kitchen where she could smell some seafood stew on the table, and also see where the bridge builder was sitting beside a familiar little boy sitting in one of the chairs with his head down. She recognized him as Inari, Tazuna's grandson. She giggled when she thought of what happened earlier this morning, when he started insulting Naruto and he got so angry that his eyes bulged out. It was too funny to handle.

She proceeded towards the table, took a seat as Tsunami poured some of the steaming liquid into each bowl, along with a piece of bread on the side.

Natsumi filled her spoon with the rich broth and placed it in her mouth, delighted by the senses.

"Oh, this is delicious," she told the older woman sitting right next to her, who in return smiled.

"Why thank you, it's one of Inari's favorites, isn't that right sweetheart?" the mother tenderly asked her son, but all he did was keep his head down and gulped the stew down his throat. Tsunami frowned, but Natsumi intervened in order for the situation to not get any more awkward.

"Yeah, Tsunami here is quite a little cook," grunted Tazuna in an enthusiastic voice.

"You know, you should have asked me to help you, this looked like it took a lot of work," said Natsumi.

"Oh no, no, no," Tsunami shook her head, "please, you're our honored guests. I don't want to force some chores upon you."

"It'd be no problem at all. I'm used to doing chores because I live with my little brother and he can be such a mess sometimes." Both of the women giggled. "I also love cooking, so it won't be a bother at all, I mean with extra people in the house, it might get difficult for you."

"That's very kind of you."

Natsumi took a bite out of her bread, amazed by the flavor of the stew and the soft dough. The table was silent except for the clinking of spoons in the bowls and slight, shifting movements in their chairs. She hadn't noticed it at first but at some point during the meal, she started gazing out the window to what appears to be the ocean, but her heart yearned to look for something more.

She really was starting to get worried about Kakashi in the condition he's in. What if Zabuza decides to attack him now, while he's broken and vulnerable? What if he isn't strong enough? She couldn't bear the thought of what might happen. She already thought that he was an idiot for training the young genin when he can barely move, she can't think negatively about him.

However, the thought still beamed down on her. Kakashi is a powerful jonin, who is constantly put on dangerous missions, knowing that he is always an inch away from death. The last word struck her mind like knife in the heart, the poisonous painful thought that any day he could go out and never come back to her.

"That Kakashi fellow is quite something isn't he?" Tazuna caught the dreamy gaze plastered onto Natsumi's face. Natsumi snapped out of her trance and turned to him.

"Hm?" Natsumi looked at him confusingly.

"I said that Kakashi is a pretty amazing fellow isn't he?"

Natsumi blinked at his comment but then soon gave a small smile. "Yes…he is."

"He seems to have certainly caught your attention, my dear," said Tsunami teasingly.

Natsumi's cheeks burned red as she almost choked on the piece of bread she took a bite of. She looked to the single mother wide eyed.

"W-What do you mean by that?" she nearly tripped on her words.

"The way you look at him, how you would never leave his side when he was unconscious, I used to be in love too young lady so I know all the signs."

"Yeah, you're telling me," Tazuna grunted in a teasing tone, "it kind of reminds me of you Tsunami when you met Kaiza for the first time."

Tsunami glared at him. "Oh father, please stop!"

The joyful mood was soon diminished when Inari pushed out of his chair and went out the door without saying anything, slamming the door behind him. The other three were left to just stare at the door in a sad silence, with Tsunami and Tazuna's faces filled with regret. Then, Tazuna sighed as he adjusted his glasses and stood up from his seat.

"I'm sorry about that, I'll go on get him back," he said as he walked out the door, leaving the two women alone at the table.

"You'll have to excuse my son, he doesn't like it when anyone talks about his father," said Tsunami sincerely.

Natsumi shook her head. "No really, it's alright, I understand."

The two of them just sat there without saying anything for what could have been forever. Then, Natsumi spoke out.

"But he's right…Kakashi is a wonderful man."

"I can tell."

Natsumi looked down to her near empty bowl of soup, her mind torn into a million pieces over what she was going to say.

"I've always thought that from the first time I met him. Whenever I was sad, he would be by my side, holding me close and telling me everything was going to be ok. He would always try to find a way to make me smile every day, most of the time it was just because he wanted to see me happy. He was very good at that."

"It sounds like he cares about you a lot."

All Natsumi could do was nod, but it couldn't erase the truth. "But I never did anything to repay him for that…and it's because of that, that he left me."

Tsunami shook her head. "Trust me, if he didn't care about you, then he wouldn't have gone through all lengths to save you from that man. I even thought at one point when I saw him with you that he had the same gleam in his eyes that you hold towards him. Believe me when I say this, he truly does cherish you."

Natsumi's eyes widened…but as much as she was surprised by the woman's keen observation, she knew that she had to be mistaken. She knew herself that Kakashi could never look at her like that, ever.

"Oh Natsumi, are you going to stay in those dirty clothes forever?" Tsunami asked changing the subject.

Natsumi looked at her confusingly and then looked down at her clothes. Of course, she hadn't noticed until now that her dress attire was not in the best of shape. It was tattered on the hem, there was dirt all over the fabric, and her leggings had gaping holes in them. She was really too worried about Kakashi that she couldn't bother to think about clothing. Natsumi simply just shrugged and tugged at the bottom of the dress with her fidgeting hands.

"I can't have you in those clothes and get sick…why don't you come with me upstairs and I'll find you something to wear."

It was then that Natsumi remembered something.

"Actually, no it's alright, I actually brought some clothes from home so you don't have to worry about it."

Tsunami stood up from the table to collect the dishes. "Well that's good, if you'll excuse me." Natsumi nodded and Tsunami went to the sink. After that, Natsumi went upstairs and into Kakashi's room, where she had settled her bag.

She opened up the pack to reveal a short but plentiful amount of clothing and started to get dressed.

* * *

The sky was set in the evening, as the sound of water splashing up against the stone docks filled Kakashi's ears. He had just started a new chapter, again, in Make-Out Paradise as he was walking back towards the bridge builder's home, but doing so on a crutch was not easy.

He left the three genin back in the forest, so that they could concentrate a little more without him around. Sakura had shown amazing progress, but she still had a little more to go. It seems to him that all Naruto and Sasuke care about is trying to beat the other one out, rather than actual completion, yet somehow, they still try to do their best. He tried not to focus or worry about them as he continued the evening walk.

He arrived at the seaside house and entered to see Tsunami getting dinner ready and Tazuna looking over some paperwork at the table.

"Oh Kakashi you're back," grunted Tazuna, "but where's the brats, please tell me you ditched them."

Kakashi chuckled closing his book. "Nope, sorry to say that I didn't. I just left them out for a while to get their training done.

"Well, I hope they don't stay out there too long, something could happen to them," said Tsunami worriedly.

"Don't worry about them, they're now officially shinobi, all three of them with different talents. They can fend for themselves."

Tsunami continued to stir the contents on the pan. "Well let's hope you're right."

Kakashi then looke around the room and noticed that _she_ wasn't here, wondering why the one person he wanted to see most is not present.

"Hey, where's Natsumi."

"Oh, she's uptstairs in your room, been up there all afternoon," said Tsunami, "I hope you don't mind but you and Natsumi will have to share a room, we just don't have that much space, but I already set up comfortable beddings in there so it's all set."

Kakashi nodded in understanding and also the nice thought of Natsumi being right next to him. "Thank you."

Kakashi then slowly limped upstairs to find the woman he wanted to come back to. He went down the hall and up to the door before knocking.

A sweet voice said come in and so he did. When he opened the door and stepped inside to place his crutch against the wall, his eyes were too astounded and overwhelmed by what he saw; and as if she was reading his mind, she stood up from the bed to reveal her form.

She was dressed in a stunning blue gown that went just to her ankles, it wasn't too fancy or too casual, but when it was on her, it looked as if gods created it. The top half of the gown had a thin halter strap that went around her neck, making it go down to just the center of her chest. Part of the dress had off the shoulder sleeves that went all the way down her elbow and around to attach to the part at her waist, leaving the full, perfect snow white skin of her back exposed. At her waist, there were blue and black sashes that went all around her, leading up to a bow in the back. Some of the dress bundled up at her waist and hip, but the dress still complimented every curve of her body and face, down to the last detail. Even her hair was fixed, she styled in in a half sweep with his present assembling it together, leaving a few strands hanging on the side of her face. And her smile…it's as if she was the only one standing in his world, side by side…how could he have thought that?

"Hi…welcome back," she said quietly. Kakashi shook his head out of thought and closed the door behind him.

"Thanks."

It was silent from that moment on, for they did not know what to say to each other. It felt like an eternity inside their own world, all time has stopped just for them.

"How are your wounds?" She asked him tenderly.

"Hmm…oh they're fine, could do better without them though," they both giggled, "but to be honest, they feel a lot better than before, thanks for taking care of me."

Hopefully he wouldn't catch the bright red flush on her cheeks. "It's no problem really."

Kakashi smiled at her as he tried to limp his way to the bed, but found the pain pulling him back. He then felt small hands on his chest and back and looked up to see Natsumi looking up at him, smiling.

"Don't hurt yourself, please let me help you."

Kakashi nodded and he was led by Natsumi to his bed. When he sat on the bed, he felt extreme relief in his muscles, it was lucky for him that he was able to sit up. Natsumi placed herself next to him, inspecting if the wounds had caused him any more pain.

"I'm fine," he said as if he answered the question in her mind.

Once he finally felt comfortable in his position, he looked up to Natsumi who was looking back at him, her beautiful eyes finally at peace by his presence. He once more was entranced by her appearance, refusing to believe that something so beautiful was right in front of his eyes…

No, he shouldn't think like that…why was he thinking like that? Even if he felt that way, he knows what will happen once he gets close to someone he cares about, the suffering that will be cast upon him, and the eternal pain that will linger until death.

But despite that, he spoke, "You're so beautiful."

Natsumi's eyes widened, her ears trying to block out what he just said. She blushed so much that hiding it was futile. She fidgeted with the loose strands of her hair, not knowing what to say.

"It was my mother's," she blurted out, "…the dress that is." She waited for him to speak but continued on when he did not.

"This was her favorite dress; she would wear it constantly, almost every day. She once promised me that when I grew up, she would give it to me so that I have some part of her. This is the first time I ever wore it, I actually have no idea why I brought it with me. Maybe I felt like if I had it with me, I could feel mom's presence next to me, as if she was watching me."

She tried not to let the tears burn her eyes. When she was on the verge of completely losing it, she felt something warm encase her hand. She looked down and saw Kakashi's hand entwined with hers. Warmth spread throughout their bodies, a sense of safe and comfort eroding their minds.

"She is watching you, and she thinks you're beautiful."

She smiled at him warmly and looked down. She then remembered the reason she was here for and abruptly let go of his hand. She clasped her fingers in her lap and began.

"Listen Kakashi, I-I'm really sorry about what happened when I slapped you, I didn't mean it. I guess I was so angry and hurt that I thought I lost you, I just – "

She stopped, no longer wanting to go on. Kakashi tried to think back to that day, he was surprised that he didn't remember it. Now he remembered the hurt and pained look in her eyes, intense with fear. He couldn't really blame her though, he didn't mean to make her so upset that day, too, but it pained him to see how guilty she felt when she hit him. Slowly but confidently, he grabbed both of her hands in order to have her face him. She looked up with wide eyes, which bore into his.

"There's no need to apologize, Natsumi. I understand that it scared you, I was probably an idiot for doing that."

She giggled while shaking her head, realizing that they were once again holding hands. She knew that she didn't deserve to receive this kind of contact, but she didn't want to pull away. So many questions were pooling in her mind. She didn't understand the strange feeling she had in her core every time he looked at her or whenever he touched her. Did she ever feel this way before, even all those years ago?

"You're not an idiot, you were very brave."

He nodded, slowly letting go of her hands. "Tsunami is going to have dinner ready soon, we should head down."

She nodded her head in agreement, standing up before holding Kakashi in his place. He looked up in confusion when she had her hands on her shoulders.

"It will still be a while before we eat, so I want you to stay up here for a little bit and rest."

Kakashi rolled his eyes, but did not refuse her request. He was able to pull up his legs on the bed in order to lie down on the soft comforter. Natsumi smiled at his compliance and walked out of the room leave Kakashi at peace.

Kakashi was left there with so many thoughts on his mind, one of them being how he was able to meet someone as wonderful as her.

* * *

**Hope you enjoyed the chapter. It may seem that they're realizing that they're in love with each other, but as of now they're not sure. Just wanted to tell you in case you were confused. The dress that Natsumi's wearing was a model of the dress that Alice from Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland wears when she enters wonderland for the first time. I know, I know, it's not Japanese clothing, but I have seen characters on the show were some clothing like we do in the real world somewhere. And plus when I created Natsumi, this was the dress I pictured her in. Look it up and see, I personally love the dress! Till next time:)!**


	8. Connection

**AN: Where to begin...oh yeah, I am sorry for the longer update. I'm having some issues back home that I had to deal with but it's ok now and the good news is that I'm now on spring break! So that gives me hope that I can punch in a chapter or two to make up for it. So enjoy this chapter, I had a huge writer's block on this one and that's one of the reasons that it took so long but now here it is. Read and pretty, pretty please review. I love hearing from you guys on what you think of the story so I would kindly appreciate that:):)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

* * *

In the week that has passed, there has not been one day in the Land of Waves when each day was not more pleasant than the last. That is why Kakashi knew today was going to be even better than before.

It is ironic to say how each day is better considering that they are currently residing in a land filled with despair and poverty, but Kakashi could tell by the look on his students determined faces and the bridge builder's grip on hope that it was going to change soon.

Kakashi slowly opened his eyes after a long sleep and the first thing he saw was the wooden ceiling hovering above him, just like every day. He turned to look out the window to see the birds that would fly by, scouting for fish to pick. He then turned his head to the other side and saw that Natsumi was still sound asleep, her hands tucked underneath her cheek, and her long chocolate hair that was tied up with the ribbon in a high ponytail and draped over the pillow and onto the floor.

In all honesty, _she _was the reason that everyday got better for him.

He was feeling healthier by the minute ever since the battle with Zabuza, and she treated him and his injuries with care, her hands delicately running over his skin every time she checked on him. Each day after he checked on the students' training, he would come back to the house and Natsumi would be there just waiting for him. He would tell her about his day and she would only listen, no questioning, only her laughter and openness.

In a way, _they _were getting better with each other.

Even though that wall was still wedged between them, he had the feeling that it was slowly crumbling down on them, as if they were ready to be fully open to each other…but he knew better than that. He out of all people should know that as much as he was happy that they were together after all those years, it couldn't last forever.

He just didn't know why it tortures him so much.

Realizing how much work he has to do, he tried to erase those thoughts from his head as he got up from the bed to prepare his supplies and reading material at hand, and quietly slipped out of the room in order not to wake up the sleeping girl.

As he left the room, the last glimpse he had of her was how tormenting her serene and angelic expression was to him, even in dreams.

* * *

Natsumi's slumber was interrupted when she heard someone leave the room. She opened her eyes, feeling as if that very same person was watching over her presence, but to her astonishment there was no one there. She looked over across from her and saw that Kakashi's bed was empty, probably downstairs eating breakfast with the others.

She looked outside and saw that the sun was barely in the sky, indicating that it was probably a little early. She turned to the clock and saw that it was, it was 6:54 am. She languidly got out of bed getting ready for the day. She put on her blue dress, securing her ribbon up into the high ponytail that she adored, and made her way downstairs.

Just as she expected, she saw that Kakashi was sitting at the table along with Tazuna, while Tsunami was preparing breakfast. Kakashi looked up to her and his eye widened.

"Oh Natsumi, did I wake you up?" asked Kakashi worriedly.

Natsumi rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand. "Hmm…oh no, I just couldn't sleep," she fibbed. She took her seat at the table, straightening her dress in the process.

"I heard that Naruto hasn't come back yet," said Natsumi.

"Yeah, he just keeps going at it, determined to outwit Sasuke, and even he came back, think about that," said Kakashi.

Natsumi giggled at the inside joke. "I just hope he doesn't strain himself too much."

"Mmm…well that's how knuckleheads are these days," grumbled Tazuna, making Kakashi and Natsumi turn to him. "They all act like their tough, like hopeless fools."

Kakashi shrugged. "What can you honestly do about it?"

Natsumi looked to Kakashi. "Do you think that they might actually do it?"

"Well, even though Naruto is a bit of a goof off, he does show determination…he'll pull through."

Natsumi nodded to this. She looked outside to the rising sun, taking in its morning glory. Although the village they resided in was far from glory, she couldn't help but be admired by their stunning atmosphere. She had never seen trees stick out of the water before, as if it was magic; and she couldn't remember a time when the sunrise was so beautiful, even back home. It made her feel at peace.

"You know what," Natsumi rose from her chair, stretching out her tired muscles, "I'm not that hungry right now, I'm going to go out for a walk."

She started walking towards the door, when she felt an iron grip catch her wrist. She spun her head around to see Kakashi's hand firmly around her slender wrist.

"I don't think that's a good idea, Natsumi," he started, "You off on your own out there, when Gato can strike any minute, do you think I can just sit here and allow you to walk into a trap, especially at the hands of that man?"

Natsumi listened closely to his voice, it was strict yet gentle and caring, something she was very familiar with. It was with assurance that Natsumi placed her hand on top of his gloved one that was enclosed around her wrist.

"I know you're worried about me, but I'm not that little damsel in distress that I used to be."

He rolled his eyes. "Says the damsel that almost got killed by Zabuza."

"Who, thanks to you, is probably lying in bed right now like a lobotomized zombie."

"But still I – "

"Look Kakashi, if he's going to come after anyone, it would be either you or Tazuna since he is the target…no offense."

Tazuna raised his hand in front of him. "None taken."

Natsumi looked back to Kakashi. "And besides, I'm not going to go far off, I'll just take a stroll to the village and back."

Kakashi eyed her a bit, but finally slouched his shoulders in defeat, and he let go of her wrist.

She smiled at him as she walked out the door, and got caught in the morning breeze.

It will be an interesting morning indeed.

* * *

She passed by the center of the village, and like every time she was there, her heart broke in two. She had never seen such pained expressions on children before, and to be honest, she probably thought the parents might have it worst. The thought of being so weak and powerless that you can't even protect your own child must be too terrible to bear.

_She remembered one night when she was four-years-old, a year before her mother died. She had been asleep, and she heard someone stumble through the front door._

_The voice of the man who came in was all in mumbles and slurry dialogue, but she could distinctly recognize the voice. Still, she had never heard her father so depressed._

_She pushed the blankets off of her and slowly and quietly, she stepped onto the hard wood floor, and tip-toed to her door. She started to hear her father's voice grow louder as she walked up and opened the door._

_She could barely understand what he was saying; it was so inaudible that at first she thought it wasn't her father, but as the door opened wider, she could hear it all clearly._

_She walked out into the hallway and crept down between the shadowy walls, only to find two more shadows just a matter of feet away from her. When she got to the end, she could see her mother in the living room, shaking and afraid. Her tears were coming down her red cheeks, in fear of what was standing in front of her._

_There her father was, drunk, sad, angry, and uncontrollable._

_Her father had never been drunk before, or even had a chance to drink at all. Ever since she was born, her father had ceased to drink even once a month, in fact, people tried to get him to drink just for fun, even if it was only once. He successfully resisted the temptation…up until now._

_The odor of alcohol filled the entire house, irritating Natsumi's senses, of course she didn't even know the terminology of alcohol and rich liquor, but the smell was so terrible that it felt as if her entire insides were rotting to the core. Despite the disgusting smell, she continued to watch as her parents continued to yell at each other, unbeknownst to them that their little girl was witnessing the entire thing._

_She didn't make out everything that they said, but it was just all too much for her to handle._

"_You never really loved us, did you?" her mother would say._

"_Since when did you earn the right to tell me how to feel?" her father would say back to her._

_Wait…father doesn't love us?_

_Do Mother and Father actually love each other anymore?_

_Do they even love me?_

_Do they even care enough to notice that I was standing right there?_

_They continued on yelling at the top of their lungs, so loud that probably the neighbors could hear them._

_Against her own will, a tear slipped down her cheek. It was right then that the unthinkable happened._

"_If I had a choice, I would have rather die than marry you!" her mother screamed at him._

_His fist connected with her cheek, sending her to the floor._

"_PAPA, NO!" her scream filled the room. The moment that sweet voice filled the room with fear, her parents froze and looked towards her direction._

_Their eyes were filled with terror. She could have sworn that she felt her father's heart stop at that instant, the thought of that just making her cry even more._

"_Natsumi," he whispered._

"Papa," Natsumi heard a little girl's voice call out for her father on the streets. He was sitting against the cement wall, drinking the remnants of a whisky bottle. She wished she could just run up to the little girl, put her arms around her small form, and tell her that it would be alright.

But she couldn't, that should be the father's job.

She kept her head up and continued walking through the village until she came upon the edge of the forest. She didn't know how she got that far, but she continued on anyway, stopping by a tree and picking at the bark. She walked through the forest, looking up at the canopy of leaves to see the sun shining through.

She turns around to see that the village had disappeared, now she was completely surrounded by trees and brush, all alone. She looked forward and spotted a tree just a few feet away from her, with something sticking out of the bark.

She walked up and saw that it was a little white flower edging its way through the cracks of the wood. She picked it out to hold in her hand…that is when she felt a shadow watching her.

* * *

The shadow watched the girl from behind a nearby tree. The last time he saw her, he tried to kill her in the thick mist.

He would have been delighted to see her blood stains all over his massive blade, just how he would feel whenever he would kill an opponent…this time it was different.

He had been following her ever since she entered the forest. He was able to escape his bedridden state when Haku left to gather some herbs for the medicine, and although he too was also in the forest, he was in an entirely different area near the ocean.

Donned in his cloak, he was able to navigate through the forest in hopes of exercising his strength for the upcoming rematch with Kakashi that he had long waited for. That is, until he saw her.

It was different now because the more he studied her, the more his soul was being pulled in to a very dangerous trap that he didn't want to tempt. It was to no avail – the way her face remained at peace, her piercing eyed taking in everything, how graceful and gentle she was with every little thing – it was drawing him in.

Just over a week ago, it didn't matter what she was like or how beautiful she was, he could kill her at any given moment. He even had a kunai knife ready in his hand if such occasion ever occurred. Now that he had the target, he can lunge for the kill.

But just as he thought…things were different.

He now knew why Kakashi was so protective of her, he cared more about her than the mission itself. It was an advantage that Zabuza now has over the famous Copy Ninja.

Then the realization hit him that even if he was given the chance, he wouldn't be able to kill her.

There were just so many things to know about her, as if she was the world's greatest creation. As he thought about this, he slid his knife back underneath his cloak and resumed his gaze at the girl.

He didn't know why, but there was a sense of familiarity with this girl, as if he knew her already despite all the pondering mysteries he had about her.

Yes, she was very familiar indeed.

She reminded him of…

Her eyes connected with his and he quickly stepped back into the shadow of the tree.

"Hello?" He heard her voice call out to him and he shrunk back into the shadows once more. He then heard her feet shuffling through the grass towards him, but his heartbeat remained steady.

"Is someone there?"

He sensed her coming closer until he could feel her on the other side of the tree. He could almost touch her skin if she came any closer, but they both froze in their places, knowing that they were not alone.

"Can you tell me who you are?" asked Natsumi quietly, placing her hands against the tree as if she was connecting with him through the wood.

Zabuza remained silent, she must have caught a glimpse of him when he was watching her. He didn't know how to respond, he could have just disappeared in a flash if he could, but…

"It's better that you don't know…" he stretched his voice so that she wouldn't recognize him.

He peeked around and saw her shrink back with a guilt stricken expression on her face.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to disrespect you or anything," Natsumi said in a shaky voice.

He sighed as he leaned his head up against the tree. "It's fine, but it is probably better if you don't see me at all."

Natsumi's brow furrowed. "Why?"

"A girl like you couldn't stand to see the face of a de – monster."

Natsumi's eyes sunk with sadness. "How could you think that you're a monster?"

"I see it…I see it all the time in the eyes of everyone that crosses my path. The fear, the anguish, it's all present right in front of them…I am the embodiment of that fear."

Natsumi's heart skipped a beat to this. She couldn't realize how someone can put themselves to such a low degree that it makes them feel like a monster. Does he really want to torment himself with that type of self-loathing?

"Are you a shinobi?" She focused on another topic

"Yes."

"What are you doing out here?"

He snorted. "My caretaker had me trapped inside my home for days and finally when he left, I was able to go out. It gets boring when you're in there for a while."

Natsumi giggled. "Your caretaker can't be that bad."

"You'd be surprised. He may be young, but his heart is frozen like ice."

She rolled her eyes and leaned her back against the wooden surface. "You know, he does it because he cares about you."

"How would you know?"

"Well, if he's there to watch over you, then it means that he has someone to protect. That's what's most important to a shinobi. The ability to protect."

"He serves me, it doesn't mean he cares about me."

Natsumi blinked and then snickered a little, causing Zabuza to lift an eyebrow.

"That amuses you girl?"

"No, no I'm sorry…it's just that you remind me of someone I know."

"Hmm…"

"I've known him ever since I was a child, until he left me without saying a word. He lived in the same village as I do, but he avoided me as if I were some kind of disease. It was only recently that I saw him again, but of course like every other sappy story, it didn't start off that well."

Zabuza snickered a bit before she continued on.

"It's strange though, he acts like he wants to push me away yet people tell me that he has always cared about me. It feels like he wants to hide himself from the world…mostly me. Sometimes I wonder if he loathes himself as well."

"You really think that."

"…Yes…but I don't want to think that, and I don't want him to think that either."

He sighed at the notion, thinking that this man had no idea what he was doing to this girl.

"…And I don't want you to think that either."

Zabuza widened his eyes and looked back as if he was literally searching for her voice somewhere. Yet, he digressed and shook his head.

"You can't presume for what I'm not unless you know me that well."

"Well, do you honestly think yourself as a monster?"

"…Of course, I'm absolutely sure of it, I mean if you could have just seen their faces…"

"My grandfather told me to never let other people's judgment affect you…" she paused and looked down, "unfortunately that quota doesn't run well in our village."

"Hm…typical."

Natsumi gave a confused look at his remark. "What does that mean?"

Zabuza shifted his position. "It's like that in every village, if someone shouts out 'monster', then everyone shouts with him. They don't need to look at a person's heart or soul to determine who the enemy is, inside or outside of a village. It is a chain reaction of hate that fuels the shinobi world, truth and lies about each other are enough to fuel a war within, and in the end, their fate is always sealed."

"He's not like that."

"Hmm…"

"…the man I was talking about… he's not like that, he doesn't _hate _anyone."

"You'd be surprised."

"He won't…he can't…he…"

Zabuza remained silent, listening to the determined tone of the girl on the other side.

"I don't want him to die from hate."

Zabuza had not once heard of the man's name yet he knew who she was talking about…Kakashi.

Yes, Kakashi is known as a noble man, a strategist, the strongest of them all. He was even said to have reached the rank of hokage, a true legend. More importantly, his devotion to his teammates was stronger than the essence of life that he holds.

_What a foolish man, _he thought. He was no fool, like every ninja, he'd studied the law, every single word. For a man like Kakashi to let his emotions get the best of him over his oath to a life as a ninja was disgraceful…a despicable fool indeed.

"He won't."

She could have sworn that her ears were lying to her. At first he sounded so cold and distant, but now, it was like he was sincere…he wanted to make her happy. She smiled.

Natsumi stretched her arms around the tree, and as her hands crept around the wood, her fingers connected with human skin…his hand.

She gasped once she felt the skin of his fingers and quickly pulled away at the contact. Zabuza did not flinch, but the thumping of his heart said different.

"I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to…" she stuttered, choking on her voice. The remnants of his touch were like electricity, cold to the touch.

Then, she gasped when she felt it again. Her heart stopped as she looked down to her hands and saw his hand once again touching the skin of her hands.

_It's such a strong, fine hand, _she thought.

She watched as his fingers caressed hers, the touch being so gentle like she was breakable. Their fingers intertwined once in a while, while they just stood there, appreciating each other's presence. The connection lit up like fire, putting all there sincerity and emotion into one simple touch.

He never imagined that he would be touching anything like her in his life…

No, he shouldn't think like that. Emotions are disgraceful…it's only a burden to the mind, it'll just turn him into a weakling.

It was then that he realized that his hand was starting to travel up her arm, and he violently pulled away.

Natsumi shuddered at the sudden drawback, aware of what she made him feel like. She didn't mean to inflict this kind of feeling towards him. It was probably insulting, making her feel guilty.

She sighed. "I'm sorry…I just make things worse for you don't I?"

There was only silence.

"Listen, you might have done some things in the past that you're not proud of and it hurts you inside…but it doesn't mean you're a monster. The fact that you made it all the way to this point in your life must mean that you are worth living for, no matter what people say. I just know it."

Again, silence remained.

It was to the point that Natsumi gathered the courage to look behind the tree to see if he was going to say anything or not, but he wasn't there.

No, he was gone, Zabuza just speeding off through the trees mentally berating himself.

_Stupid…stupid…stupid…don't go on getting attached to her, it's not real. You have a mission at hand, and emotion will just crush your will to ruins._

* * *

Natsumi returned to the house feeling queasy to the stomach. She had no idea how this came about, maybe the guilt that she feels towards that man was finally attempting to rip her insides. She clumsily walked through the front door, struggling to keep her head straight when Tsunami walked in the room and noticed her coming in.

"Natsumi, oh thank god you're home I was starting to get worried," said Tsunami.

Natsumi didn't respond, only rubbing her head some more.

"Are you alright?"

"I'm feeling a little dizzy and my head won't stop throbbing."

Tsunami hurriedly went to her side. "Oh dear, you should probably lie down, I'll take you up to your room."

"Thank you."

Tsunami escorted her up the stairs and into her and Kakashi's room and carefully laid her down on her bed, Natsumi almost instantly falling asleep.

"Try to rest for a bit, I'm going to be back with a wet towel and medicine."

Natsumi nodded gently, but didn't see Tsunami exit the room, for she already fell asleep.

* * *

When Natsumi woke up the sky was lit up by the moonlight.

She reached her hand to pat her forehead and felt a warm wet towel with drops of water gliding down the side of her face.

_The towel is still hot and it seemed that I've been asleep for hours, how…_

She looked down and saw that a blanket had been draped over her body as well as new pillows resting under her head.

She could tell that her head was getting better, but it was still there. Tsunami must have known what she was doing.

There was a knock on her door, snapping her out of her thoughts. She rubbed her eyes and called out, "Come in."

The door opened, and her heart quickened when she saw who was standing there with a tray of warm food and more towels.

She could have sworn that the masked man smiled at her.

"Hey there," he said in his usual casual tone.

She smiled. "Hi."

"I brought you some dinner while it was still hot." He said as he placed the tray on the night stand

"Thanks, sorry I had to miss it."

"Don't worry about it, besides you wouldn't have enjoyed it."

She got confused and sat up, taking the towel of her head. "Why not?"

Kakashi sighed. "Naruto and Inari had a fight, and I had to talk to Inari, trying to make him understand the situation."

"Wow, how did it go?"

"I'm not sure, but from the look in his eyes, it seems that he might have affected him, even if it was only a little bit."

"That's good," she said nodding, which probably wasn't a good idea when she felt the throbbing pain in her head come back and her hands flew up to the sides of her head. Kakashi saw this and instantly went to her side.

"What's wrong?" he asked worriedly.

"I think my headache decided to come back."

Kakashi chuckled and grabbed a fresh towel and dipped it in a bowl of hot water. He took the towel from Natsumi's hands and placed the steaming one on her head.

"Thank you," she said sweetly.

"No need. I was going to give you some medicine a while back, but you were still asleep and I didn't want to disturb you. So, I just changed your towels a few times and even gave you an extra blanket, you were shivering earlier."

Natsumi eyes widened. _ Wait a minute…he did all this? He took care of me?_

Kakashi caught the glimpse in her eyes. "Is something wrong?"

"You did all this for me."

Kakashi's expression grew calm and sincere as he moved so that he was sitting next to her on the edge of the bed looking down on her.

"Of course I did, you were sick and needed help."

"That's so kind of you."

As much as Natsumi wanted to express her full gratitude in so many ways, all she could offer was a weak smile. He smiled back.

"Listen, don't ever think that I'm not going to be there for you, because it would only mean that I'm a bad friend."

A frown was just inches away from being plastered onto her face, but she had enough strength to keep on her smile.

_I knew it…a friend. It's all I can ever be. No…I have to be, for him._

Natsumi yawned, signaling to Kakashi that she is getting tired, so he stood up and prepared to leave the room.

"I'll leave you alone now. Eat your dinner and go to sleep, I'll be back later to check on you."

She nodded and then he was gone.

She sighed as she grabbed her hot meal from the table. She hoped that she could forget about her problems by thinking of the man behind the tree and the delicious meal in front of her.

* * *

The next morning, Natsumi woke up and saw that Kakashi wasn't there, remembering that he had the task to guard Tazuna at the bridge. She got up and saw that her towel has changed once again, although the pain wasn't there anymore.

She got up from her bed and saw that she was still in her dress, giving her no reason to change into something else.

There was a knock on the door. "Natsumi, can I come in?"

It was Tsunami and Natsumi called for her to enter. The door opened and the single mother peeked in. "I just came in to check to see if you were feeling better."

"Much better."

"Oh that's good, I already have some breakfast for you on the table if you would like some."

She nodded and with that, Tsunami went back downstairs.

Natsumi stood up from her bed and stretched her muscles, but the ache in her shoulders could not compare to the ache in her heart fused from last night.

_A friend he says._

Natsumi shook her head, of course it hurts but she couldn't let it drown her in misery. It could be worse, he could have never been in her life at all. But he is and she'll make the best of it, for him.

She put on a brave face and was ready to start the morning…

Little did she realize that just outside the house was a shadow of darkness preparing to cast down upon them…with bloodshed.

* * *

**Yeah I know, cliffhanger, but this time the chapter will be out way, way sooner so I'll see you then. And again, I love reviews so you know the drill;P**

**P.S. The blue dress that Natsumi is wearing will be her main outfit throughout the story, just like Naruto's orange...jumpsuit...thingy:p hehe;)  
**


	9. Rage

**Hello everyone, another chapter and I hope you like it. Now I must warn you that there is some _mild_ content in this chapter, but I don't think it's enough to change the rating. However, there might be another instance when I will change the rating like that. No worries though I hope, so on with the story and please don't forget to review, I love them and they inspire me to keep on writing:)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

* * *

"AHHH, don't tell me…" Natsumi heard Naruto wake up.

Just outside her door she could hear Naruto scrambling to get his clothes on and speeding down the stairs, making her giggle as she continued to brush her hair.

"I knew it they ditched me again!" and he was gone.

Just as the jinchuriki left, an ominous shadow befell on the house in the form of three thuggish brutes.

All were very menacing and they knew how to strike fear into any living soul that came across their path…and that's what they intend to do on this very day.

They all rested their hands on the handles of their swords, with the mission in sight.

"Are you all ready?" said one with silver hair and a purple cap. They all snickered and nodded.

"I'll go around in the back," said one with raven black hair tied up in a ponytail. He had icy cold blue eyes and a muscular, brutish build hidden under his dark clothing. He was ready to spread some pain, in fact he wished that he were battling it out with the famed Copy Ninja, Kakashi Hatake, that would have been a real fight rather than kidnapping a bridge builder's family, but he digressed. He was, without a doubt the most threatening of them all.

"Very well, Daisuke, go on ahead," said the one with the green tattoos exposed on his upper body. With that, Daisuke went ahead of them, and then they were all starting towards the house.

* * *

Kakashi should have expected for this to come. Now they were all, along with Sasuke, Sakura, and the bridge builder, surrounded by the all too familiar thick mist. They have triggered a deathtrap, and they walked right into it.

Of course, his instincts were correct…Zabuza is still alive, and beside him was that masked ninja who pretended to kill him. He should have just stopped the masked boy at that time, so that he could have disposed of the rogue ninja himself. It was too late now, so he will have to give it his all to defeat Zabuza with more force and strength than before.

Now, Sasuke went off to encounter the masked boy, and both were proving that they were equal in strength. That is, until the mysterious boy did, with no problems at all, hand signs with just one hand, and was able to trap Sasuke and himself in a dome of ice mirrors. Kakashi charged towards them but was blocked off by the rogue himself.

"It's no use, you know," said Zabuza which made Kakashi's face twitch in anger and frustration, "once someone is in that dome with Haku, they are as good as dead."

"You don't know Sasuke, he will not back down like some weakling," said Kakashi in retaliation.

Zabuza snickered in a mocking tone. "So what, were you just going to abandon the bridge builder for your comrade?"

Kakashi widened his exposed eye.

"Perhaps you would like to forfeit the mission and just hand over the old man…"

"Never."

"Tch, then I guess it probably doesn't matter what happens to that girl, huh?"

Kakashi's entire body froze up when he said those words, as well as all time and space stood still. _What does he mean…Natsumi…_

"What the hell are you talking about?" Kakashi growled in anger.

"It's no concern of mine, but from what I've heard Gato has hired his thugs to invade the bridge builder's home and take a hostage," it was at that point that Kakashi's mind went into a hellish frenzy. "I have seen what those thugs are capable of, and if that girl is there…what's her name…Natsumi…"

Kakashi threw an almost sickening glare at him once her name went past his lips, like evil tainting beauty. However, it left him in a hold that he can't escape from. He couldn't abandon Sasuke but he also couldn't leave Tazuna and Sakura vulnerable, but just thinking about the danger that Natsumi could be in made his stomach churn, all the images of what can happen to her only heightened his fury.

"Oh what Kakashi, can't stop thinking about your precious comrades…or maybe you're thinking about that girl."

Kakashi refused to lose control, but he was on the breaking point.

"You don't know Gato's thugs they can go beyond brutality and cruelty to the point that it is just unimaginable…"

He continued to stay silent.

"…and once they're done with her…you're going to wish that they had just killed her."

Then it was released, Kakashi's fury was on a rampage, and there was no turning back.

_I'm so sorry Natsumi._

* * *

Natsumi relished in the warm cloth as she had just finished washing her face and placed the towel back in the bowl.

She looked into the mirror of her dresser, adjusting her appearance here and there. She brushed some loose strands to the side of her face and tightened the beaded blue ribbon around the swept part of her hair. She was now completed for the new day…

Until she heard a crash downstairs and a woman's cry.

She jumped once she heard the clatter and hurriedly ran out of her bedroom and headed downstairs. She just rounded the corner of the door leading to the dining room and saw Inari witnessing his mother getting pushed to the ground by two men.

She didn't know who they were but they looked as if they were ready to kill someone. The desperate mother called out to her son, and when the two men turned around to look at him, that's when they looked up to her and an immediate lustful grin was plastered on their faces.

"Well, who do we have here?" said the one with the purple cap. The tattooed one made a few steps closer to her, but she was frozen in place.

"She sure isn't from around here, haven't seen a beauty such as her in my lifetime…what's your name?" asked the tattooed man grinning.

Natsumi didn't answer him but she didn't know what to do when Tsunami shouted to her.

"Natsumi, get Inari out of here and run!"

"Ah Daisuke, how nice of you to join us," said the thug with the purple cap.

She was about to do as she says when she felt a pair of hulk like arms entrap her body in its grip. She wanted to turn around to see who had captured her but the man wouldn't allow her to move. She tried as hard as she could to escape the iron grip but it was to no avail, it was as if she was like a mouse being ensnared by a snake.

"No – " Natsumi tried to scream but Raiden put his hand over her mouth in time, a monstrous hand which almost covered her nose, restricting her to breathe.

She noticed that she was being dragged away up the stairs while dangerously breathing against her hair, his warm breath sending frightening shivers down her spine. She heard Tsunami trying to persuade them not to harm Inari, until one of them called out to her captor.

"Hey Daisuke, save a piece of her for us when we get back."

Natsumi's heart might as well have exploded in terror. _No…No…No…No…_

That was the only word she could have come up with as they finally reached her bedroom and as soon as he opened the door, he shoved her onto the floor but she hurriedly got up on her feet. Daisuke shut the door behind him, locked it, and then turned his attention to her. He saw that she backed up towards her dresser, her eyes on alert as he studied her form.

There were absolutely no words to describe what he was seeing when he looked at her. Of course there are other pretty women in the world and he's seen them all, but they were _nothing_ compared to the creature in front of him. Her body had that perfect slenderness yet still retaining those luscious curves; her arms and hands were as delicate as white blossoms; of course he went to her breasts and was surprised at the outcome, they were just as perfect as her body, full and natural, just brilliantly gorgeous; he then went up to her face and saw true beauty in those innocent brown eyes, her lips pink and nearly full, a delicate neck to support her heart-shaped face; her long hair wonderfully flowing down her back and the sides of her face to intoxicating that snow white skin. She was the embodiment of a goddess, a being unnatural and surreal in the real world, sublime to all living creatures…and he was going to have all of her.

He continued to leer at her while she was doing her best to keep her distance from him, even though she was trembling in fear, in which the brute caught on to.

He started to take off his long leather coat, "Mm…Mm…Mm…and what might your name be?"

She did not answer him.

"Oh, wait," he started as he dropped his coat to the ground and walked towards her, "It's Natsumi right…what a beautiful name…for an even more beautiful girl like you." And as he said that, he stopped, then lifted his hand and caressed her left cheek with his fingers. Natsumi flinched, trying to avoid his evil touch but her body refused to do anything else.

"My name is Daisuke," even his name sent chills all throughout her body, "they say I'm the alpha male in Gato's ring, and I'd be lying if I said that wasn't true. You must be pretty impressed, huh?"

She still remained silent which irritated him a little bit, but he was still at ease. He retracted his fingers and just let his eyes do the work for him as they glazed at her body.

"It's alright, there's no need to be afraid," he started to take off the belt that held all of his ninja gear and just like the coat, he let it drop on the floor. "I'm actually a nicer guy than I look…sometimes."

Natsumi didn't know what to do, he looked so powerful that she already knew that there was no chance to fight him off, but she needed to try. She discreetly reached behind on the dresser to look for an object of some sort for defense and came across a moderately heavy wooden jewelry box, and she clutched it in her hand just as he pressed his body into hers.

"Man, just thinking about the fun we're going to have is making me – "

He had no time to finish his sentence when Natsumi struck him in the head with the box, sending his head to the side and a cry from his mouth. Natsumi was surprised how little damage it inflicted with only a little droplet of blood, but it gave him enough of a distraction for her to run past him.

She started heading towards the door and about to unlock it when she felt Daisuke grab her hair roughly, making her cry out in pain, even more so when he slammed her into the door with her back facing him. She started to feel tears coming down her face, knowing what was coming, and she can't even fight him off.

Daisuke was now losing it, even though the damage done to him was only like a needle pricking a finger, he won't let it go, he needed to teach the girl how to respect a great warrior like him. He then caught the glistening tears flowing down her pink cheeks, and although he was boiling with anger, he decided to restrain his energy and just play with her; he'll definitely need it later.

He then pressed his lips into her hair, and started whispering strange nothings to her, "Now, now, there's no need to be frightened it won't be as bad as you think. I have to admit it I'm pretty good with the ladies…" he even had the audacity to start treading kisses in her hair as well as run his knuckle down the exposed skin of her back over and over again.

She could have just died there, it would have been better for her, just anything but this.

"You know what…I'll make this easier for you," he pressed one last lingering kiss in her hair, "if you do as I say, then I won't kill that little runt downstairs."

Her eyes widened. _Inari. _No, she couldn't let any harm come to him, he had already been through so much and at a young age. She felt life just drain away from her as Daisuke sensed the defeat in her body and he smiled.

"Very good, you're such a good girl," he stroked her hair, "Now…"

She felt him tug the ribbon, taking it out, and let it fall to the floor. He combed his fingers in her hair, just like running fingers in water before he turned her around, forcing her chin up so that she looked at his eyes.

"I will have you," he said in a firm tone and he began shoving her by the shoulders towards the bed, turned her around so that her back was facing the bed and he pushed her down roughly.

He got on top of her, and with his calloused hands, he roughly tried to pry her legs open. He sensed that she pulled her knees up and together, restraining them the best she could, but he put more force into it and was able to spread them apart. His mouthwatering desire was getting the best of him, and he was ready to unleash it.

He aggressively cupped the sides of her hips and began rubbing his hands on her sides, earning a shivering tremor from her body, but he could only smile in delight. His hands then proceeded to her thighs, where she gasped at the touch of his hands, which only encouraged him to go on. He scrunched up the dress to the sides of her thighs and as he went on he laid down on top of her, getting the sweet aroma emanating off her skin, nearly drooling with lust.

He eyed her hair that was beautifully sprawled out on the linen of the pillow, licking his lips, and then he gazed at her tearful face.

"Don't worry…I'm going to _**make **_you enjoy this."

She closed her eyes tightly, her heart dissolving into pieces as he bent his head down and buried his nose in her hair, with violent tears streaming down her face once again.

_Oh Kakashi, I'm so sorry, please forgive me…I hope you don't think bad of me after today._

That is when an orange flash burst through the window and kicked Daisuke off of her.

"You pervert!" shouted the yellow haired knucklehead as he kicked the thug in the face, knocking him off the bed. Natsumi could see his eyes roll backwards and blood squirting out of his nose in a pathetic manner.

As soon as she felt the thug was off of her, she quickly sat up and saw the man on the floor, passed out with Naruto standing right next to him.

Naruto then turned to her. "Are you alright, Natsumi?"

She blinked at his question and looked down to see that the skirt of her dress was still scrunched up to the very top of her thighs, and scrambled to pull her dress back down.

She smiled to him. "Yes I'm ok, thank you."

She continued smiling at him, until she thought of the single mother and son, last time seeing them in peril.

"Tsunami and Inari, are they..."

"They're fine, I took out those two other guys. They're resting now downstairs."

She let out a relieved sigh as the two stood still for what seemed like minutes.

He nodded. "Ok, I'm going to take care of this guy," he said nudging the body with his foot, "then I'm going out to help Kakashi-sensei."

Her head perked up when she heard his name. "Kakashi…is something wrong."

"By the way things have been going on around here, it looks like Zabuza is back."

Natsumi gasped. "Then Kakashi…he could be in danger right now, as well as the others, do you think they – "

"No, they're fine, I might have known them for only a little while, but they're strong."

She blinked at his warming comment, nodding afterwards in encouraging agreement, then a thought occurred to her.

"You have to take me with you," Naruto widened his eyes at her sudden request, "I know that I can't fight and I'm probably useless in any given situation, but…please, I have to see that Kakashi's safe, with my own eyes, please."

Naruto stared at her for the longest minute, until he smiled at her determination and nodded, "Ok."

* * *

"Oh Kakashi, are you angry that your friend will be ravaged to pieces by a bunch of low life thugs?" Zabuza mocked him, earning an evil and deadly glare from the Copy ninja. He was glad, now he will have a real fight with him, no holding back.

Whatever he said to Natsumi on that morning meant nothing to him. He had no room in his heart for sweet words and encouragements, and he couldn't let them get through to him, not now. Emotion is just a burden, and he should never forget that. The life of one useless wench doesn't matter to him. She was nothing to him.

So why does he feel this guilt wrench inside of him?

Kakashi and Zabuza clashed with one another, with Kakashi's kunai restraining the mighty sword, still holding his deadly glare over the rogue.

"I know you won't go down easily, Zabuza," Kakashi growled at him, "and I know that you are not a merciful man. You hold no sympathy for the innocent and you will take down any obstacle in your path, I have now come to accept that…however, I will not just stand by and let you violate Natsumi's name like that. That I will never accept…never."

Zabuza looked into his eyes and chuckled. "Poor Kakashi, you have so much to learn."

And with that, Zabuza was able to push back against the stance and the both went back in different directions.

Zabuza stood up straight. "It is utterly pathetic how your feelings for that woman get the best of you…" then his eyes widened at the sudden revelation, and he eyed at Kakashi.

"Now I see, you love her don't you?"

Beneath his mask, Kakashi gritted his teeth in anger, he must have been putting his all in holding all his anger and rage that was tempting him. Zabuza should have just kept his mouth shut for saying such things about her.

"So it's true?"

Kakashi remained silent, handling his kunai knife carefully and ready.

"Well I guess it doesn't matter now….you'll die soon anyway, and your very last thought will be how you failed your comrades and how you let the love of your life get savagely violated. The perfect way to die isn't it?"

That was it.

But something stopped Kakashi from charging.

Zabuza looked behind him as well, and saw a big puff of smoke surrounding the small area. When the smoke faded away, a small, blond-haired kid appeared with a sly grin on his face.

"Great," he said, "now that Naruto Uzumaki is here, everything is going to be alright!"

_Naruto, right on time,_ Kakashi remarked in his head, but then his attention immediately turned to the figure behind him, one that made his mind fill up with unexplainable joy.

"Natsumi," he whispered. _She's alright…she's alright!_

He then noticed that she turned to him as well with a big smile plastered onto her face.

"Kakashi!" she exclaimed, relieved to know that his life hasn't been taken by that monster.

Her attention was solely focused onto him that she hadn't noticed that Naruto had charged into the dome sneaking up against Sasuke leaving her alone along with the others.

She then locked eyes with Zabuza, which made her spine tingle with fear and seizing her heart. Zabuza snickered and turned back to Kakashi.

"Well Kakashi, you must be very happy that that girl has not been tortured to death."

Kakashi's moment of happiness was shattered when he heard that menacing voice as if he was scheming something.

"But you have forgotten something."

It was at that moment that the rogue ninja had disappeared from his sight at an incredible speed, his mind reeling trying to figure out where he went. Then fear eroded his body when he showed up again.

Zabuza had appeared behind Natsumi, and within seconds, he grabbed both of her wrists in a choking grip and held his massive sword up to her neck.

"NO!" Kakashi called in despair.

"I'm still alive, and I can still kill."

* * *

**Review please:p**


	10. Safe

**A/N: Ok, I guess an apology is in order...I felt like I had to take a break and recollect my thoughts and ideas. Now I'm back on track ad I feel like I can move on faster, but I'm not making any promises since it's so obvious that I can't keep any of my promises :l Anyway here's a new chapter...so enjoy:)**

* * *

The last thing she saw before Natsumi closed her eyes was Kakashi's horrified face…the next time she opened them, her vision was invaded by the mist.

Unfortunately, she was not alone; she could still feel her hands enclosed within the demon's monstrous hand and the devilish gleam of the massive blade piercing her eyes and the sharp edge ghosting over her delicate skin. It felt as if her senses were inviting this monster in to take over her soul and body, making her almost cry with disgust.

His breath was soothing her ear, it was calm and it showed no signs of fear or hesitation of slitting her throat. She didn't know how long it has been since she has seen Kakashi, but it felt like forever…she would do anything to rid of the lonely feeling that was overtaking her soul.

She felt the man's body twitching with laughter…it was so dark.

"I never realized how much of a coward the love of your life is," Zabuza whispered tauntingly in her ear, speeding up her heartbeat, "he has the power to come after me even through all this mist, and yet he refuses to come and rescue you because he cares more about those brats and the old man."

She tried not to cry…but the tears came down anyway.

She shudder a gasp when she felt his hand release her wrist and come upon her right shoulder. It was so cold. Her eyes widened when she felts his fingers travel from her shoulder across to her chest where it stopped above the location of her heart.

"Your heartbeat is so erratic," the demon teased her.

Even more tears and sobs escaped from her.

He chuckled. "Yet I noticed how you have tried to be strong even as those sad tears crawl down your skin."

He then lifted his fingers and caught the falling teardrop on the tip of his index.

"It's so sad to see such a beautiful woman cry, especially when they have lost all hope."

Natsumi gulped. "I haven't lost hope."

Zabuza looked at her with a confused expression on his face.

"Kakashi would never let his friends die…he's strong…he's never failed anyone, ever."

He sighed. "Then why are you shaking?"

Natsumi held back a gasp, and seeing that she could not reach the demon's heart, she slump her head forward so that her loose, silky strands could cover her face, not wanting him to look at her no more.

"Tch…your Kakashi is a fraud…he said that my future was death, and yet here I stand. Now, I will end his legacy as well as destroy his _heart._"

* * *

Kakashi was on the brink of losing his mind.

There was just no way that he could attack an enemy that he couldn't see. And it certainly didn't make things any better that he now had Natsumi in his clutches, all because he wasn't strong enough.

He tried his best to seek out through the thick mist for any sign of moving life…it was as if the mist erased any trace of that.

It was a few moments later that he heard a voice in the distance and attached to it was his name. He could barely make out the words, and yet it was as clear as a bell…an angel's voice rang on in the mist.

"_Kakashi would never let his friends die…he's strong…he's never failed anyone, ever."_

The words filled him with indescribable joy and heartbreaking guilt at the same time.

It was Natsumi's voice that filled the air no doubt about it…but how could she have said all those things, when she knew well enough that they weren't true. He wasn't strong enough, but more so, he wasn't strong at all; he failed to save Obito…he failed to protect Rin…he failed to aid his sensei in his time of need…and he failed to stop his father from taking his own life. And Natsumi, it was worst…he failed her three times: one when Zabuza captured her, the second not being there to protect her from those thugs that were going to violate her by every means of the word, and then on _that day, _a day that he wished to forget.

Strong…that trait was exiled when all of his loved ones were taken away from him.

But…they weren't all gone…no…one remains on this Earth. He came to his realization; as long as she was standing on the Earth's surface, he wasn't just going to let her go like that…he couldn't. She was still here…that's all that matters…and it is his job to make sure that she stayed.

He heard a monster's laugh sound out across the land.

"Poor Kakashi…are you having trouble deciding which one of these worthless _loved ones _you're going to waste away this time?" Zabuza taunted him through nothingness.

Kakashi gritted his teeth in anger and wicked temptation to just barge through the rolling mist until he found Zabuza and had his throat within his grasp…

No…he would hold it in…for Natsumi. If he just went in there like that Zabuza would surely kill her and him as well. Just a little longer…

"You know Zabuza," said Kakashi, "You think you might have me all figured out just from that last battle…but I still have a few more tricks up my sleeves besides my sharingan."

"He he he..." Kakashi almost shivered at his villainous chuckle, "oh…but Kakashi, as a matter of fact, I know exactly everything about you…I know what it is that will push you over the edge…an edge that you are trying so hard to keep yourself from falling over…I know what it is you care about most."

Kakashi's eyes widened. _What…no…he couldn't mean…_

"Oh yes, Kakashi, I know just how much this woman means to you…more than you even realize."

Kakashi was at his limits. "Shut up! Leave Natsumi out of this! If you want anyone to fight, fight me…don't you dare – "

"I don't think you're in a position to challenge me Kakashi, especially with my blade ready to sever your woman's head from her neck."

"You bastard!"

Deadly silence mocked him.

* * *

"It was you wasn't it?" Natsumi shakily asked her captor.

"What?" He replied.

"It was you in the forest…I didn't see you, but…I remember the feel of your hand," she reached her hand up to clasp on his hand which was enclosed around the blade, in which he flinched.

"I remember how tender and gentle you were to me, even when you were trying to put Kakashi down, you were still considerate to me, to the point that you even held my hand."

A choked gasp came from his throat, which put a sad smile on her face.

"In all honesty, I don't think you really want to hurt us…I think – "

"Don't act like you know so much about me!" He told her raising the blade closer to her neck, but her hand did not falter.

"No, I don't know everything, I barely even know you…but I do know when someone is sad."

He remained silent, but Natsumi felt the sudden shift in the atmosphere. It wasn't so dark anymore.

"I don't understand everything, but I understood how you felt in the forest. You didn't feel like you have truly stood by someone and be there for them…to comfort them, to protect them, to just be there for someone else rather than just to protect yourself."

His grip on her slackened, and she was able to turn around to face him. She saw that his eyes were slightly widened and he was at a loss for words, his sword hanging limply from his hand.

"I know that feeling. I have always felt weak and useless because while Kakashi did everything for me, I couldn't do anything in return. I couldn't be by his side on his missions because I'm not a ninja, so I can't protect him from getting harmed. It's just that even though I can't do anything for him, he always wants me by his side to help him, and although I know I'm of no use to him, I do it because he feels like he needs me there."

It remained silent.

"I don't think you're a killer…and I know that you're not a monster."

She finally released her hold on his eyes and looked down. Not a word was exchanged between them for what seemed like hours until finally, Zabuza broke the silence.

"You foolish girl."

She looked up in shock. "Wha…"

"It's too late to try to convince me of all those pitiful feelings and dreams. Things like that don't happen in the real world." His hand tightened on the handle of his blade. "We are all just tools in this violent world…nothing more…and you can never change that."

She was about to say something in return when she felt his hand jab a nerve on the side of her neck and he ran past her. She tried to turn around but her knees were knocking together and before she knew it, her body collapsed to the ground.

Her vision was beginning to darken.

She then heard voices in the distance.

"No!"

_Kakashi._

"Too late!"

It was faint, but she was sure that blood has just been spilt to the ground.

There was a scream…_Sakura._

_But…what about Kakashi? Is he alright? Is he hurt? Is he…_

She didn't have time to ask the last question, for her mind was lost.

* * *

It wasn't so cold anymore, she actually felt warm.

Her hands ran up her body, only to feel that it was covered by a soft blanket. She scrunched her face in confusion as her eyelids finally decided to open up.

She was now in her room, back at Tazuna's home. She looked out the window to see night had befallen on to them. She slowly sat up, the sheet falling to her waist, and saw that she was changed into her white, short puffed sleeved nightgown. She attempted to collect her thoughts together when she heard a chair squeak just a few feet away from her.

She turned to see the man she adored sitting in it, looking back at her.

_He was alive…I can't believe it, he's alright, but what happened to…_

"You're awake," he said.

She just looked at him, and just realized about how she got changed into her gown.

She patted the fabric covering her stomach. "How…"

"It's alright," he chuckled at her embarrassment, "Tsunami came in and took care of you."

She sighed in relief.

"I made sure that you were taken care of above all else."

Her head shot up, but she tried to hide her blush tainted cheeks. Her heart could have beaten any faster.

"Are you feeling well?"

She was snapped out of her thoughts and responded by nodding, "Yes…I mean…I don't understand, what happened?"

He stood up and walked over to her side and sat with his legs tucked under. He then spoke.

"You were knocked out by Zabuza and he came to attack us."

"Oh no…is everyone –"

"They're alright," he cut her off knowing that she was worried, "Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, the bridge builder, they're all fine."

She smiled, but then something came to her mind. "What about Zabuza…and the boy?"

His eyes sunk at the mention of them, and she could sense the weight that it put on him. "They're both dead."

She gasped, holding both her hands over her mouth.

He nodded. "I was aiming my attack at Zabuza but…Haku took it instead. Then Gato and his men came and injured Zabuza, killing him."

Her eyes were saddened, he saw that. He sunk his head lower, avoiding the gaze that could always take him.

"At least, they're together now, Zabuza was finally at Haku's side in the end."

Natsumi's eyes widened, but then they softened at her bittersweet happiness.

_I knew it, he's not…he's not…evil._

She then caught something red at the corner of her eye and she looked down. She gasped in horror when she saw a painful gash across his chest, as well as a deep cut in his hand with blood covering it. It was all over.

She touched his chest in tenderness, causing the man to look down at her hand.

"Your hurt…it looks really bad."

He tried to brush her worries away, "It's fine, it's nothing compared to what I usually get on a daily basis." He put his hand behind his head in a cool fashion.

She rolled her eyes as she pushed her blankets off her and stood up to look down at him. "That's no excuse, it could get infected. I'll be right back with some bandages."

He watched her walk away, her night gown trailing behind her at her feet. His thoughts then traveled to her warm touch that befell on his wound. He reached his hand towards the very spot where her fingers danced upon.

The touch was so gentle, it was very hard for him to explain in detail just how much of an effect she always had on him. Whenever she touched him, spoke to him in that serene voice, and her kindness to other people, which is a very rare trait that you would find in any person nowadays. It just seemed so…surreal and otherworldly.

Yes that was the word to describe her…and otherworldly beautiful person.

He retreated from his thoughts when Natsumi came back with a medical box in hand, as well as a bowl of water and sat back on her mat in front of him. She opened the box and took out a white cloth.

"We're going to have to clean the blood off first or else it will collect bacteria."

He nodded. He looked at her confusingly when she put on a bashful look on her face.

"What is it?" he asked.

"I'm going to have to remove your shirt," she bit her lip in embarrassment.

"Oh…um…ok, sure," he shrugged casually.

She nodded as her hands slowly went to the zipper of his vest and she started to pull it down. Kakashi groaned in pain when he helped her slip the vest of his shoulders, feeling the soreness coarse through his upper body. She then proceeded to remove his shirt and pull it up and over his head, insisting that she could do it without his help. She dropped the shirt to the floor and blankly took in the sight.

Despite the large gash breaking his skin, his body was, admittedly beautiful. His abs are very fine and strong; his skin covered in a skin white tone, with this, she knew that the rest of his body was just as beautiful.

She silently gasped when she realized that she shouldn't be thinking about these things right now, not ever, especially in his condition.

She returned to dabbing the cloth in the bowl of hot water and very carefully started to wipe of the blood.

He flinched at the slightly stinging touch, but he grew to accommodate it. He watched her with wondering eyes and in a magical trance.

_She's so good at doing these kinds of things._

She cleaned off the blood on his hand and when she was done, she put the cloth back in the bowl and took out a needle and thread, something that could only make Kakashi scowl at.

"Oh don't tell me I need stitches…" he had a goofily depressed sad look on his face.

"I'm sorry, but the wound on your chest is really deep, so I need to do this in order to keep it from getting infected or worst. Luckily though, your hand won't need any at all."

He sighed, and nodded for her to continue. She slipped the thread through the hole on the needle and delicately pricked the skin and started to stitch up the wound.

Kakashi was grunting in pain, clenching his fists so that he wouldn't budge in pain. Natsumi tried her best to be as gentle as possible, seeing the pain etched onto his face.

"It's okay, I'm almost done, just a little bit more," she said softly. She continued on with her work until she reached the end and secured the knot in its place. She grabbed the white bandages and hesitantly scooted closer to him so that she could wrap the fabric all the way around his torso. Her head leaned in right next to his so that she could feel his warm breath in her ear, sending chills down her spine, as she reached behind wrap the bandage and secure it. She then went on to bandage his hand and when she was done she put all of the medical supplies away and sat back down on her mat.

"You should be better within a couple weeks, with a little rest."

"Thanks…you're really talented at this."

She waved her hand at him. "It's nothing you need to dwell on."

He chuckled and looked around the room. It was a little trashed, though he didn't know why he didn't realize it sooner, with some things lying on the ground broken, as if there was a scuffle of some sort. His heart then stopped when he spotted something on the floor burning his eyes.

It was the blue ribbon that he had given to her.

The thought of what Zabuza had told him was screeching in his mind. Within seconds, he knew exactly what happened or what could have transpired.

He got up with Natsumi looking up at him to see where he was going. He went to where the ribbon lied and picked up to bring it over to her.

He sat down twirling the long, silky ribbon between his fingers, his mind deep in thought. Natsumi looked at him with a saddened look upon her face, curious about what he must be thinking about.

"Did _they _hurt you?"

She looked up at him. "Hmm…oh no, they didn't do anything really, that is before Naruto came back and took out the thugs."

"But I wasn't here to protect you."

She looked at him in shock and confusion. "What, no, this has nothing to do with you. You were just doing your job protecting Tazuna, you didn't know that Gato's men were coming to attack us."

"No!" he said, almost yelling, making Natsumi flinch. "The moment I encountered Zabuza, it became my duty to protect all of you. If Naruto hadn't come in time, there's no telling what vile things they were going to do to you. I – "

He stopped when he felt Natsumi's hand on top of the hand clenching the ribbon. He looked up to see a small smile gracing her face, her eyes holding a tender gaze.

"It's alright, really. We're all safe now and it was because of you. I am very proud of what you have done for all of us. Thank you."

He could only look at her with complete astonishment. She would thank him even if he was a complete failure, support him even if he had done nothing, she was even kind to people who don't deserve kindness…she's that wonderful and good.

"You're welcome."

She smiled in return. He then held the ribbon up and said to her, "Turn around."

She did as she said and when her back was to him, she felt his hands pull her hair back, making her face even more red. He then started to tie the ribbon in a ponytail. He let one loose strand in front of her face and laid his hands on her shoulders.

"You should get some sleep," he said motioning for her to lie down, and she did.

"Kakashi," she said catching his attention.

"Hm?"

"Could you sleep by my side tonight, I don't feel like being alone."

Kakashi blinked at her request but then without hesitation or regret said, "Of course."

He then slipped under the sheets and laid down beside her, mindlessly, he raised his hand to stroke her hair comfortably.

"Goodnight."

He looked down and saw that she was already asleep.

He smiled and started to close his eyes, with his last remaining thought that they would return safely to their home together.

* * *

**I hope this was worth the wait! I'll try to get the next one up faster:) And don't forget to review, it means so much to me;)**


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